Second Phase Corruption Case Filed Against Dozens in Pokhara International Airport Construction

Kathmandu. A second phase of the corruption case related to the construction of the Pokhara airport has been filed. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case at the Special Court in Kathmandu on Sunday against three dozen individuals and firms involving a claim of Rs 46.15 billion.

Of this amount, Rs 89.5 million is due to excessive expenditure by the consultant, and Rs 372 million is due to additional expenditure against the terms and conditions.

Who are the defendants?

The defendants against whom the case has been filed include former Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Kedarbahadur Adhikari, the Director General, Deputy Director General, and Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), as well as individuals associated with the consultant and construction companies.

Cases have been filed against former Director Generals of CAAN, Sanjeev Gautam and Rajan Pokharel. Furthermore, Deputy Director General Mahendra Singh Rawal, Director Dhruvadas Bhochibhovaya's heir Yamunadevi Shrestha, former Director General and then Project Chief Pradip Adhikari, and Binesh Munakarmy have also been named as defendants.

Cases have also been filed against former Project Director Baburam Paudel, then Deputy Director Pravin Neupane, Manager Chandmala Shrestha, Senior Accounts Officer Narendraraj Sainju, Accounts Officer and Deputy Manager Pramod Nepal, Senior Accounts Officer and Deputy Manager Sabin Phuyal, and then Deputy Manager Himjyoti Thapa.

Moreover, corruption cases have been filed against Project Officer Rajaram Chaudhary, consultant company representatives Yam Bahadur Bhandari, Uddhavraj Chaulagain, Shobhendraraj Joshi, and Pramod Dawadi, as well as Wang Wo, Chairman, and Wang Jiang, Project Manager, of China CAMC and the main personnel of that company.

How did the corruption occur?

The initial estimated cost for the consultancy contract for the Pokhara airport was US$ 2.8 million, which is an estimated cost of Rs 339.4 million. However, the case filed by the CIAA mentions that two years later, in Bhadra 2073 BS, the estimated cost was set at Rs 503.4 million, including Value Added Tax and contingency.

According to this, the CIAA claims that the authority incurred a loss of Rs 89.5 million when the contract was procured from ERMC/A-Nat/Salet JV for Rs 428.9 million during the consultant selection process.

Furthermore, the CIAA claims that US$ 2.79 million out of the US$ 2.8 million allocated for consultancy in the main contract's price schedule was spent illegally under the pretext of purchasing different goods, and the CIAA interprets all this expenditure as corruption. Based on the exchange rate of NPR 118.02 per dollar at that time, the CIAA claims that Rs 372.081 million was spent in violation of the main contract's terms.

Case Filed Against 56 Individuals in the First Phase

Earlier, in the third week of Mangsir, the CIAA had filed a case against 56 individuals, including 55 persons and one construction company, concerning corruption in the same airport. This included five former ministers and secretaries from the ministry.

At that time, the CIAA claimed that corruption amounting to Rs 8.36 billion occurred during the airport's construction.