Financial transactions between Chief Secretary Aryal and corruption accused Vikal Paudel

The case filed by the Authority against nine persons including Vikal on the charge of 69.8 million corruption in the purchase of security printing equipment is pending in the special court. Similarly, the authority has detained him to investigate a dozen crimes including illegal earnings. Nepal Rastra Bank, Money Laundering Investigation Department, Revenue Investigation Department and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the police are simultaneously investigating against him. Aryal, who is in the highest position of civil administration, has been found to have made financial transactions with such people, and Aryal himself is also under investigation by the authorities in the case of purchase of Terramax technology equipment.

Paudel and Aryal exchanged regular messages on 'WhatsApp', government files were exchanged and after Aryal sent the bank account number, it seems that Vikal got Rs 5 lakh and Rs 9 lakh respectively. Both times, Kantipur has also received the vouchers of money deposited in the bank account of the person designated by the then Communications Secretary Aryal.

According to the documents received from various agencies involved in corruption investigation, the dialogue between two people starts on WhatsApp from 21st August 2078 (September 6, 2021). At 6:39 in the evening Aryal's number 9851188813 received a message, 'Hello Sir, I am Vikal.' The next day, a document from the Security Printing Center was also 'forwarded' to the same number.

When Pushpa Kamal Dahal was the Prime Minister and Surendra (Ram) Karki was the Minister of Communications, the last meeting of the then Council of Ministers appointed Poudel as the Executive Director of Security Printing on May 19, 2074. Later, when KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister and Gokul Baskota was the Minister of Communications, he was also behind the 70 crore audio episode.

In June 2078, after Sher Bahadur Deuba became the Prime Minister, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki became the Communications Minister and Aryal became the Communications Secretary. By this time, Paudel had started to seek re-appointment as the Executive Director of Security Press. In the meantime, it has been revealed that there were not only documents related to security printing, but also financial transactions between the then Communications Secretary Aryal and Paudel.

Although Poudel tried to re-appoint, the procedure stopped him, the formation order did not have a provision for re-appointment of a single person. Efforts to amend the order for the formation of the Protection Printing Development Committee for Poudel have also started. Since the approval of the Ministry of Finance is required for any decision involving financial expenditure, 'setting' has also started for that. It seems that the then secretary Aryal also gave Poudel the responsibility for the 'follow-up' of the letter sent by the Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Finance for approval.

On October 7, 2078 (September 23, 2021), Aryal himself calls Paudel on WhatsApp, after the call is not 'received', he sends a message, 'Did you follow up with the MOF?'. In response, Paudel says, 'Yes sir, I am following sir. However, the file has not been signed by the minister (Janardhan Sharma). I took an update on this matter with Dhan Bahadur Baruwal (Deputy Secretary, Finance Minister's Secretariat) only 15 minutes ago. He has said that he will submit the file to the minister as soon as he gets the time.'

Aryal is not satisfied with Paudel's answer. They say, 'You have to go there yourself.' Meanwhile, Aryal seems to be more interested than Paudel. Acknowledging his interest, Paudel says "Hush sir". The dialogue between them continues. Paudel also keeps on changing WhatsApp's 'security code' to keep the dialogue confidential. Meanwhile, on 16 January 2078 (January 30, 2022), Aryal sends a picture of a blank check to Poudel in which only the name and account number of the person to whom the money is to be sent are visible. It appears that the amount has been requested to be sent to the account number 18-********-1 in the name of Roshandarshan Bajracharya in Standard Chartered Bank.

If Aryal sends the account number at 3 o'clock on Friday, five lakh rupees will be deposited in the name of Rajan Poudel in the 'first half' on Sunday (January 18). At 1:12 in the afternoon, within five minutes of Vikal sending the copy of the bank voucher, Aryal says 'thank you'.

In the meantime, the appointment procedure revision process is also going on. On the proposal of Communication Secretary Aryal, the Council of Ministers amends the order for the formation of the Security Printing Center, which is also published in the gazette of June 12, 2079. By adding sub-section 3 (a) of section 6 of the formation order, it has been said, 'Regardless of what is written in sub-section 3, if the government of Nepal deems it necessary, the term of office of the executive director under sub-section (5) of section 3 may be extended once.'

In this way, the government changed the law for Paudel and reappointed him the next day on May 13. But it seems that Paudel was not in contact for a month. Perhaps, that's why Aryal sends a message on June 14, "Where are you?" The

dialogue continues. On June 30, Paudel says, 'Sir, I will come to your office (Ministry) at 5:15 in the evening.' Two weeks later, on July 16 (August 1, 2022), Paudel sends a receipt to Aryal with a deposit of Rs 900,000. This year the sender and receiver account have been changed. The amount is deposited on behalf of Vivekman Pradhan in account number 02************20 in Pulchok Branch of Global IME Bank in the name of 'C-Link Travel and Tour'. Poudel sends the voucher at 16:47 in the evening and after 20 minutes Aryal returns the same reply, "Thank you."

Although it is not revealed for what purpose Paudel sent the money to Aryal, the context confirms that there was no natural transaction between them, because the bank account of a third person was used in the transaction. Aryal, who is currently the chief secretary, also admitted that he had sent the bank accounts of C-Link Travel and Roshandarshan Bajracharya to Poudel and after depositing the amount, the vouchers came. However, he insists on taking it as normal.

'Vikal asked for the account number of the travel agency and Roshandarshan Bajracharya and sent it, it is not a big deal. What happened to me? It must have been given to Travel and Roshan,' Chief Secretary Aryal told Kantipur on Wednesday evening, 'Vikal asked me for the account number. It was sent after asking for it.'

But when asked by Kantipur why the voucher of money exchanged between Vikal, Roshandarshan and C-Link was coming to his WhatsApp, Chief Secretary Aryal only said, 'I know Roshan, they must have an account. Now travel has travel costs. Nothing else. Nothing like that. The account number may have been sent in some context. Succeeded.'

Roshan Darshan did not want to be contacted when he tried to get a response on this matter. After two days of calling and texting, he did not respond. Aryal said that he is familiar with Bajracharya, who has been helping the government for planning, policies and programs as an economist on behalf of the World Bank.

Aryal, who was the Communications Secretary for about 18 months, was transferred to the Prime Minister's Office on Chait 14, 2079. Two and a half months later, on 31st May 2080, the then Chief Secretary Shankardas Bairagi dramatically resigned. However, his tenure was four months left. Aryal was going on leave in the first week of June. However, Aryal became the chief secretary on May 32, the day after Bairagi's exit. Bairagi has been appointed National Security Adviser by creating a new position and has been given ministerial privileges.

Sunil Paudel, the then managing director of Vikal and Nepal Telecom, is involved in corruption worth crores. The authority has already filed a case in a special court against Wikal in the purchase of security printing equipment and Sunil in the purchase of information technology center equipment. On May 3, 2080, the Authority filed a case in a special court against nine people including Vikal, after collecting Rs. 698 million 81 thousand.

Similarly, a case has been filed against nine people, including Sunil Paudel, on charges of corruption in the purchase of equipment for the National Payment System (Payment Gateway). Paudel, the then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (Industry Secretary at the time of the case) Madhukumar Marasini and nine others, the authority has filed a case in a special court claiming Rs.

Similarly, they have been arrested and investigated by the authority on January 10 for crimes including illegal wealth acquisition. According to the officials, 11 crimes are being investigated, including illegal dollar savings, foreign PR, working as a foreign consultant without government approval, illegal digital currency 'Bitcoin' and crypto transactions in Nepal.

Similarly, Chief Secretary Aryal is also under investigation by the Authority for the purchase of Teramox technology equipment when he was the Communications Secretary. In this matter, the Authority has taken statements from former Communications Ministers Mohan Bahadur Basnet (currently Health Minister) and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Chief Secretary Aryal, then Communications Secretary Mahendraman Gurung, and the then chairmen of the Telecommunication Authority Digambar Jha and Purushottam Khanal.

'That is not a big deal'

Chief Secretary Aryal

It seems that you have sent the account number to Vikal Paudel, who is being prosecuted in a special court for corruption charges of 690 million in security printing and who is under arrest by the authority for investigation in dozens of corruption cases and the amount has been deposited in it. , what is your opinion on this matter?

This is not a big deal.

What do we consider this?

What's wrong with me, right? You must have given it to Roshan.

You have sent Roshandarshan Bajracharya's account number to Vikal. Voucher will appear sent to you after deposit. How did this happen?

Roshan must have been sent on some errand. There will be reckoning with Roshan. He might have asked for Roshan's account number. And I must have sent Roshan's account number to Vikal.

The bank account of C-Link Travel was also sent to Wikal, then it seems that the voucher for depositing 9 lakhs was also sent to you, right?

C-Link travel agency. It may have been sent to it.

Roshan, C-Link and Vikal, why did the transaction voucher come to your WhatsApp?

Roshan and their reckoning. You may have asked for the account number, I have sent it sometime. Now there are travel costs for travel. Nothing else. Nothing like that. The account number may have been sent in some context. An account may have been sent from somewhere. Could it be.

How come you had to send Roshandarshan Bajracharya's account number to Vikal?

Vikal asked me for Roshan's account number. I sent it after asking.