SURKHET: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 11 individuals, including the former Chief Administrative Officer of Soru Rural Municipality in Mugu district.
The accused include former chief Birendra Malla, engineer Prakash Acharya, assistant sub-engineer Manoj Dhami, accountant Jeth Bahadur Budha, planning section chief Nabin Bumi, consumer committee chair Bishnu Dutta Jaisi, treasurer Nanda Devi Jaisi, secretary Paumal Sarki, road construction monitoring coordinator Dalbir Sarki, committee member Dharma Raj Jaisi, and then-acting ward chair of Ward No. 10 Birendra Bahadur Malla.
According to CIAA spokesperson Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the case concerns irregularities in a road construction project from Shahidgate to Kot in Ward No. 10, implemented under the Chief Minister Employment Program during the fiscal year 2077/78 BS.
The commission found that the consumer committee was formed after the project agreement and work orders were already issued. The technical team failed to conduct proper field inspections and instead submitted inflated evaluations, exaggerating the completed work.
Although the design estimated 6,623.8 cubic meters of construction, field measurements confirmed only 3,113.03 cubic meters had been completed. Despite this, the committee claimed to have completed the full amount and was paid accordingly.
The commission also found that the monitoring committee submitted incomplete reports and recommended payment based on inaccurate documentation.
The CIAA stated that this resulted in an excess payment of over NPR 2.32 million to the consumer committee. The case has been filed on charges of embezzlement and abuse of authority.
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