A corruption case has been filed against Surendra Poudel, chairman of Nepal Reinsurance Company. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case against Poudel and eight other people, including the then office bearers and employees of the company, in a special court on Sunday, on charges of irregularities while he was the general manager of Udayapur Cement Company Limited.

On 20 Bhadra 2082, the then Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel appointed Poudel as the chairman of the reinsurance company for a period of 4 years.

A claim of Rs 124.722 million and 11 paisa has been made against Poudel, along with a fine and imprisonment.

According to Special Court Spokesperson Krishna Sharan Lamichhane, a case has been filed against the then General Manager of the company, Poudel, along with the then Acting General Manager Nawal Kishore Sah, Deputy General Manager Mahesh Prasad Kafle, Production Division Chief Sanjay Kumar Lal, Warehouse Division Chief Mahesh Prasad Sah, then Clinker Production Department Chief Ravichandra Poudel, Cement Production Department Chief Hari Prasad Adhikari and Sales Department Chief Ram Bahadur GC.

The then General Manager of the company, who has been made the defendant, Poudel, was last appointed as the chairman of the reinsurance company by Bishnu Prasad Poudel, who was the Finance Minister in the KP Sharma Oli-led government, on 20 Bhadra 2082. Less than 5 months after his appointment, a case was filed against him in an old corruption case.

The CIAA has demanded Rs 465.274 million against the then acting deputy general manager of Udayapur Cement, Rs 126.369 million against Kafle, and Rs 465.274 million against Lal, Sah, Adhikari and GC, and has demanded the recovery of the fine, imprisonment and embezzlement amount. Poudel has been suspended from the post of insurance chairman after the case was filed.

The CIAA had investigated after a complaint that the consumption of clinker was high during cement production but the production was shown to be low and the officials and employees colluded to embezzle the amount for sale. The charge sheet filed by the CIAA in the special court states that the government property was colluded to embezzle by showing low production in various fiscal years after FY 2074/75.

It has been revealed from the investigation that 33,914 metric tons of clinker were shown in the fiscal year 2074/75 alone, but only 32,785 metric tons were found in the physical test conducted on 12 Asoj 2075, and 1,129 tons of clinker were embezzled. It has been found that irregularities were committed by showing less than the actual clinker stock in the physical test report of 12 Asoj 2075.

Similarly, a complaint was also filed regarding the disappearance of 10,200 metric tons of clinker from the records in the fiscal year 2075/76, 11,525 metric tons in the fiscal year 2076/77, and 26,116 metric tons in the fiscal year 2077/78. Later, after the fact that about 37,000 tons of clinker were embezzled during the investigation, the Authority filed a case by fixing the amount for that and demanding punishment according to the role of the culprit.

Poudel, who was made a defendant, was appointed as the company's general manager by the then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala-led cabinet on 12 Falgun 2071. Poudel became the general manager on the recommendation of Industry Minister Mahesh Basnet in the then government.

Three years later, after a complaint of embezzlement was filed with the Authority, the matter was taken up for investigation after the cement production and clinker consumption between the fiscal year 2074/75 and the fiscal year 2077/78 were not coordinated. In the same process, the then general manager Poudel, the acting general managers after him, and the heads of departments and divisions were brought under investigation based on their roles and decision-making involvement, and the Authority filed a case against all eight people, claiming different amounts accordingly.

After the investigation confirmed that the clinker required for cement production was unnaturally lower than what it should have been, the Authority stated that a case was filed in court by fixing the amount based on the crime and role.

‘Since it is seen that the chief executive of the industry appointed by the government has not fulfilled his duties and informed the board of directors and the government in the mentioned financial years, and that the then acting general managers should take full responsibility for this and make them responsible, it is seen that in the present corruption-related act, the then general manager Poudel and the acting general manager Sah, along with the defendants, committed embezzlement, loss and destruction of clinker from the fiscal year 2074/075 to mid-2077,’ the charge sheet filed by the CIAA in the special court states.

The charge sheet states that an attempt was made to cover up irregularities by changing the clinker balance by the decision of the board of directors of Udayapur Cement Industry Limited on 17 Chaitra 2078. After that, the Auditor General’s audit also pointed out the shortcomings in the preliminary report. After that, the then Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies formed an investigation committee, and the report submitted on 11 Mangsir 2079 showed that the clinker stock produced from the fiscal year 2074/75 to mid-December 2077 was 363,720 tons and the limestone consumed was 519,978 tons.

In it, the ratio of clinker to limestone was 0.725, but according to the documents received from the industry, the ratio obtained by deducting the 37,640 tons of clinker that was found to be less than the physical quantity was 0.649, which is abnormal and very low, leading to the embezzlement of a total of 37,640 metric tons of clinker, according to the charge sheet of the Authority.