A corruption case has been filed against 17 individuals and one company, including the incumbent and former managing director of Nepal Telecom, on charges of corruption in the procurement of billing systems. The Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission filed a case in a special court on Sunday, making the managing director Sangita Pahadi, former managing director Sunil Paudel and other employees and contractors involved in the procurement process defendants.

Apart from Pahadi and Poudel, the authority has made the then chief technical officer Pratima Vaidya called Pratima Shrestha, the then chief financial officer Rajendra Shrestha, the then chief operating officer Jhavindralal Upadhyay, the then director Vinita Shrestha, the then acting director Amul Pradhan, the then manager Devendra Khatiwada as defendants. A case has also been filed against the then Deputy Managers Rajeev Kumar KC, Santosh Kumar Shrestha, Naval Chaudhary, Mukti Prasad Aryal, Hemprabha Rampratap Karn alias Hemprabha Karn and Parmatma Bhattarai. 

According to Rajendra Kumar Paudel, spokesperson of the authority, an indictment has been filed with a demand for recovery of Rs. The authority demands that all of them who have been accused of being the main culprits should be sentenced to imprisonment of 10 to 14 years. 

In the charge of killing the contract in collusion with the officials and employees of Telecom, punishment has been demanded against the contractor company and its director as well as the main culprits. In the charge of killing by collusion, the authority has made the Chinese company Asian Info Yunghang Software (Beijing) Limited (formerly Asian Info Linkage Technologies Inc.) and its senior director Long Yong and the then operations/project manager of Color Ringback Tone (CRBT) Kathmandu, Huang Wei and the contractor company's Nepal representative Shailes Shrestha, director of Arnico International Pvt. Ltd., as defendants. 

The Authority also investigated Baikunth Aryal (later retired as Chief Secretary) and Hariprasad Basyal, who were the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Communications Secretary of Telecom, among others. 

In the investigation of the authority, then joint secretaries of the board of directors Bhupal Baral, Uttar Kumar Khatri and Shankar Lamichhane, company secretary Rajendra Aryal, then managing director Dilliram Adhikari, then technical officer Bhanuraj Shrestha, then director Radhakrishna Dhungel and then deputy managing director Minu Pradhan also came under the scope of investigation. 

The authority also investigated the then director Savina Maske, the then managers Hari Dhakal, Ganga Sagar Matanche, Kumar Prasad Khatiwada, Prakash Manandhar, Subodh Rimal, Shobhan Adhikari and Anup Regmi, the then deputy managers Maniraj Paudel, Sudipraj Ghimire, Saroj Pradhan, Santosh Bhandari and the then senior engineer Prayag Khadka. But the authority did not file a case against them due to the lack of 'criminal evidence'. It is mentioned in the indictment of the authority that "after receiving more evidence, it is necessary to file a case against the suspects".

Telecom's former managing director Paudel, who was made a defendant in the corruption related to the procurement of billing system, has already been found guilty by the court of half a dozen crimes including illegal wealth acquisition, payment gateway, fake documents, hiding assets abroad. This is his seventh case. 

In order to improve the quality of Telecom's billing services, a contract worth 333 million rupees was handed over to a Chinese company in a non-competitive collusion and for that, 98.88 million 41 thousand 956 rupees were embezzled on various dates. On 9th December 2018, Telecom entered into an agreement with the then Chinese company Asian Info Linkage Technologies for the purchase of 'Convergent Real Time Billing' (CRTB) and Customer Support (CS) billing systems. 

At that time, a contract was signed with the aim of integrating GSM mobile, fiber, internet, leased line, wireline, wireless broadband and other telecommunication services into one system/platform and calculating and updating fees immediately through real-time billing. There was also a provision to enter into an Annual Maintenance Agreement (AMC) for 6 years. For this purpose, Telecom had made an agreement with the contractor company for 25 million 63 thousand US dollars by giving a 5 percent discount against the agreement and the terms and conditions of paying the amount at a decreasing rate of 5 percent annually. 

It has been revealed in the investigation of the authority that in the second year, 4 supplementary contracts were made for AMC in the amount of 34 lakh 72 thousand 56 US dollars when the contract was initially signed. During that time, the AMC service was purchased for 3.586 thousand 569 US dollars per year. After that, 2 more supplementary agreements were made and a 5-year agreement was signed with annual discounts. Based on the decision of the board of directors' meeting held on October 6, 2078, it is mentioned in the indictment of the authority that the company caused/caused a loss equal to 24 lakh 43 thousand 620 US dollars (33 million 48 lakh 17 thousand 430 rupees). 

The amount of damage has been confirmed by the authority. The authority demands that 98.8 million rupees 41 thousand 956 rupees (728 thousand 308 dollars) should be recovered from the defendant. After a complaint was filed with the authority raising questions about the purchase agreement, the internal committee and the expert committee suggested to go for a new billing system, but that too was ignored. 

After repeated problems in service delivery, Telecom formed a committee on 13th December 2075 to formulate a long-term strategy for purchasing new technology and services in competition. The committee submitted its report on 22 Chait 2075. But it was ignored. On 18 August 2076, a committee was formed to prepare the specifications to go to the new billing system under the coordination of Nareshkaji Shakya, the then manager of Telecom. The committee submitted its report on 26 November 2077. After that, the specification examination and review committee approved the cost estimate of 4 billion 10 million 24 lakh 88 thousand 711 rupees 39 paise to purchase the service with the overall billing system and recommended to go for international bidding.

The same recommendation was approved by the Board of Directors on 4 July 2078. On the other hand, despite the decision of the board of directors to go through the new process, the Chinese company sent a proposal to Telecom on 19 July 2078 to take the contract for 277 million 60 thousand US dollars for 8 years. The then managing director Dilliram Adhikari formed a committee headed by Nareshkaji Shakya on 3 August next month to review it. After Shakya retired in the middle due to age limit, a committee was formed under the coordinatorship of Vinita Shrestha. Meanwhile, the Chinese company was extended the contract again for 1 year from September 2021 to 35 lakh 86 thousand 569, contrary to the original contract. 

On October 2, 2079, the review committee prepared an estimated cost of 441 million 8106 US dollars for the new billing system and 238 million 222225 dollars for the upgrade. But the review committee was found to have planned with the intention of awarding the contract to the Chinese company with upgrades, according to the authority. It has also been revealed that a proposal has been submitted to the board of directors to remove the issue of paying fees by reducing 5 percent every year and determining the upgrade amount for a lump sum of 6 years and handing it over directly to the Chinese company. 

A committee was formed under the leadership of Acting Director Amul Pradhan to negotiate further with the Chinese without going through a new process. After that, a direct purchase agreement was signed with the Chinese company Asian Info on January 8, 2023 for upgrading. The conclusion of the authority is that public property has been damaged by awarding the contract to the company without competition under the guise of reforming the billing system. 

new billing system uncertain 

The procurement process for the new billing system has become uncertain after a corruption case was filed against the top officials of Telecom. Telecom purchased the 'convergent real-time billing' and 'customer support' system from the Chinese company for 29.8 million US dollars 13 and a half years ago. This system came into operation from 6 January 2069. It has the capacity to serve 30 million customers. After this system was put into operation, Telecom successively 'migrated' various services like CDMA, GSM, WiMAX, PSTN, email to this system. But since this system is based on old technology, it was decided that it is not suitable for new services like 5G and it was decided in July 2078 that an international tender should be called for the purchase of a new billing system. 

Telecom invited bids for the new system on 18 March 2080, but no applications were received at the initial stage. At that time, it was alleged that tenders were opened targeting limited companies without ensuring competition. After the case on this issue, the Supreme Court ordered to cancel the bidding process. In the order, it was also said that companies connected as core network manufacturers of telecom such as Asiainfo, Huawei, and ZTE will not be allowed to participate in the tender of the billing system as there will be a conflict of interest. 

The regulatory Nepal Telecommunication Authority also sent a letter to Nepal Telecom on 17th June 2078 and pointed out that if the core network and the billing system provider are the same in the convergent billing system, the billing data may be misused. The regulator also suggested to ensure that there is no conflict of interest while taking a decision on this matter.