A corruption case has been filed against 19 people, including former Vice Chancellor Bhandari of Rapti Institute of Health Sciences. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a case in a special court on Thursday, naming the then Vice Chancellor of the institute, Bhandari, and the then Acting Registrar Kailash Prasad Dev as defendants, on charges of irregularities in the procurement of health equipment.

According to CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane, along with Bhandari and Dev, the then director Sagar Panthi, the then head of the radiology department, Bove VC, biomedical engineers Sharad Bhandari and Asutosh Bhandari, biomedical engineer Amit Kumar Chaudhary of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital Maharajgunj, institution officers Jhankar Lamichhane, Leela Kumari Devkota, Megh Bahadur Adhikari and lecturer Shreesiya Pokharel have been made defendants.

Similarly, a corruption case has been filed in the special court against IT officer Hiralal Bhandari, accounting officer Rajiv Basnet, physiotherapist Pooja Thakur, computer assistant Shatish Bahadur Shahi, pharmacy supervisor Krishna Prasad Joshi, staff nurse Bindu Poudel and the operators of the contractor company Himalaya Medical Company, Amar Shrestha and Sanju Rajkarnikar.

The Authority has imposed a fine of Rs 73.182 million and demanded recovery of the embezzled amount.

A complaint was filed with the Authority alleging irregularities in the purchase of city scan equipment for an institution in Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City of Dang in collusion with the Vice Chancellor. The investigation that followed the complaint of financial irregularities by purchasing low-quality equipment confirmed the fact that the Vice Chancellor, employees and contractors had committed irregularities, but the case was filed against those involved in the case, according to the indictment filed by the Authority in the special court.

According to the indictment, it has also been found that the equipment was purchased without a cost estimate. It is also mentioned that the government property was damaged by purchasing substandard goods in collusion. Not only that, it has also been found that the amount was paid on the basis of false invoices.

On the same charge of irregularities in the procurement of equipment, the Authority had filed a case in the Special Court on 23 Asoj against the then Vice Chancellor Bhandari and 13 others, demanding a sum of Rs 93.4 million.

At that time, the Authority, in collusion with Bhandari, illegally procured low-quality equipment in the procurement of MRI machines in a malicious manner, contrary to the Public Procurement Act and regulations, and demanded a budget without identifying the procurement needs and preparing a procurement master plan, and made the procurement in collusion with officials and employees.