Anti-Graft Body Files Corruption Charges Against 21 in Pokhara Airport Construction Case, Including Former Secretary

Kathmandu. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a charge sheet at the Special Court against 21 individuals, including a former secretary and three former Directors General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), in connection with the corruption case related to the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport.

 The CIAA filed the second case naming Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, then Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and then Directors General of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Sanjiv Gautam, Rajan Pokharel, and Pradip Adhikari as defendants. They have been accused of corruption causing loss to public property.

When the agreement was signed with the contractor company 'China CAMC Engineering' under a loan facility from the Chinese Exim Bank for the airport construction, a budget of US$ 2.8 million (excluding tax) was allocated for the appointment of consultants. However, CIAA investigation revealed that instead of utilizing the allocated budget, a cost estimate of NPR 503,440,696 was approved from a separate budget head of the Authority with malicious intent. It is alleged that this created a double budgetary burden by not spending the amount already included within the contract agreement, causing significant financial loss to the public entity.

According to the CIAA, an agreement was made with the consultant 'ERMC/A-Nat/Slat JV' for NPR 428,936,700, and NPR 406,826,568 has already been paid to date. The process was advanced in violation of the terms of the contract agreement, preparing an unusually high cost estimate, limiting competition to the national level only, and favoring the consultant. The press release mentions that collusion was found between the then Secretary of the Ministry, high-ranking officials of the Authority, and the contractor company.

Furthermore, it was found that the contractor company China CAMC fraudulently revised the price schedule to spend only US$ 10,000 out of the US$ 2.8 million allocated for the consultant, spending the remaining US$ 2.79 million elsewhere. Deception was perpetrated against the Authority by adopting a double standard, maintaining the old expensive rates for items whose quantities were reduced in the revised schedule and showing increased amounts for items whose quantities were increased.

The Commission has named employees involved in this case, representatives from the contractor company China CAMC, and the consultant company as defendants. The CIAA concluded that initiating the procurement process with malicious intent while the project implementation had not even begun, and signing the procurement agreement without an approved budget and program, clearly confirms the intent of corruption. Citing extreme misuse and misappropriation of public property, the CIAA has demanded strict action including recovery of the amount and fines.