INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, MAY 4The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a chargesheet at the Special
Court against five persons, including the chief administrative officer of Chhayanath Rara Municipality, Mugu, for their alleged involvement
in corruption on the pretext of carrying out development activities.
14, including late rural municipality chair, sued for
Rural municipality chair, 26 others booked for graft
Those sued by the anti-graft body are CAO of Municipality Pitambar
Saru, engineer Mahesh Singh Kathayat, assistant sub-engi-neer Hasta Bahadur Malla, and office-bearers of community users' group Ram Maya
Malla and Ratnadevi Hamal.
According to a press release issued by the CIAA, they had colluded to embezzle Rs 2.97 million
in the course of constructing stone steps along a trail in Ward 2 of the municipality through the users' group during the fiscal 2017-18.The
CIAA had launched a wide-ranging investigation into the case after it received a corruption complaint.During the probe, it was found that
the engineer and sub-engineer prepared a measurement book showing that more work had been accomplished than the actual work in the
construction of stone steps, and that the CAO had approved the measurement book without confirming the quantity and quality of construction
works.Similarly, the office-bearers of the users' group had claimed that the payment for construction of stone steps was in line with the
measurement book prepared by the engineer and sub-engineers, and approved by the CAO.As per the anti-graft body, the CAO had sanctioned the
payment even for the work they had never carried out.They had also overvalued the work
CIAA Spokesperson Shyam Prasad Bhandari said the defendants had worked in collusion to embezzle state funds meant for development activities
in the local level.Each defendant has been charged under section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002, seeking maximum punishment
under the law along with recovery of the amount in question from each.A version of this article appears in the print on May 05, 2022, of The
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com