POKHARA: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) conducted a raid at the Pokhara Metropolitan City office on Tuesday afternoon.

The CIAA team seized documents related to a municipal executive meeting decision that granted a completion certificate to Manipal Teaching Hospital’s building, which would result in a revenue loss of nearly Rs 200 million.

This decision was reversed by the Pokhara Metropolitan City after 15 months, during an executive meeting held on June 23.

The decision in question was made during the 16th meeting of the Pokhara Metropolitan City on March 24, 2023, which approved the building plan and issued a completion certificate for Manipal.

Despite significant revenue loss, the municipality approved the building plan, allowing for Rs 17.53 million in revenue to be recorded in favor of Manipal.

The Office of the Auditor General, in its fiscal year 2022/23 report, instructed that three times the regular fees should have been collected as per the regulations, highlighting that the city had granted Rs 198.11 million in tax exemptions for the building plan approval.

The Auditor General’s Office has directed a verification of these details and proper documentation of the decision.