It is alleged that irregularities of Rs. 5.589 million were committed in collusion between municipal employees and contractors by disqualifying the bidder who had bid Rs. 2.473 million for the road upgrade contract and awarding the contract to the bidder who had bid Rs. 8.062 million.
What you should know
A corruption case has been filed against eight people, including the then Acting Chief Administrative Officer, on charges of irregularities in the contract/lease for the upgrading of roads under Tripurasundari Municipality in Dolpa.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Monday filed a corruption case against the defendants in a special court, fixing a fine of Rs 5.589 million. The case has been filed against Acting Chief Administrative Officer Lal Prasad Pokharel, Engineer Karna Bahadur Karki, Administrative Officer Hirachandra Dharala, Education Officer Bhim Bahadur Thapa, Senior Accounts Assistant Rupchandra Budha and Operator Harichandra Bista, Contract/Evaluation Committee member and Project Engineer Shishir Kumar Gurung and Divya Nirman Sewa Pvt. Ltd. Dunai proprietor Bhimraj Neupane. According to CIAA spokesperson Rajendra Kumar Poudel, a lump sum fine has been imposed on Chief Administrative Officer Pokharel and six others, along with imprisonment and fines as per the amount. Similarly, the charge sheet filed by the CIAA in the court states that Project Engineer Gurung and Contractor Neupane should be fined and imprisoned separately as per the amount fixed.
Tripurasundari Municipality had invited bids for the upgradation of the motorway from Khadang to Lha in Ward No. 5 for the financial year 2078/79. The cost estimate of Rs 83,82,998 was approved, and 7 companies participated in the competition.
However, the investigation has also revealed that there was collusion from the beginning to award the contract to Divya Nirman Sevas. The charge sheet states that the process was found to have been violated as per the Public Procurement Act when the bids were opened on 24 Jestha 2079 for the selection of the contractor company.
Out of the 7 bidders, 3 bidders did not submit documents related to the ownership of the construction company and the other three companies did not submit the construction schedule, and 6 bids were disqualified from the evaluation process on the grounds that the bids submitted by the bidders were incomplete, and the investigation has also revealed that Divya was awarded the road construction contract in collusion.
It was also found that the applications of Divya Construction Services and Krishna Construction Services were signed by the same person, and although Krishna Construction Services had the lowest bid of Rs 24,73,615, the contract was awarded to Divya Construction Services, which had the highest bid of Rs 8,062,678.
The charge sheet of the Authority states, ‘Since it appears that double standards were adopted in the evaluation by failing Krishna Construction Services, which had the lowest bid, and passing Divya Construction Services, which had the highest bid, it is confirmed that the difference between the bid acceptance and the lowest bid by awarding the contract to Divya Construction Services, which had the highest bid, was confirmed by the defendants’ malicious intent to make illegal profits and cause illegal losses to the organization.’
