The police investigation revealed that the government employee's main plan was to gain access to government systems and manipulate the proposed price to award contracts to construction company owners including Pandey.
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It has been found that unauthorized access was gained to the electronic procurement system under the Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) with the involvement of RPP leader and former minister Bikram Pandey and others and the financial proposal document system was manipulated. Police investigation has found that Diwakar Deuja, a computer operator at the Dhankuta branch of the Intensive Urban and Building Construction Project, accessed the government system and manipulated the proposed price to award contracts to construction company operators including Pandey.
After the investigation conducted by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the police for two months, it was found that irregularities were found in more than two dozen tender processes and a case has been filed in the District Court, Kathmandu against 22 people including Pandey, who is also the operator of Kalika Construction Pvt. Ltd. Pandey accessed the PPMO website through his username ‘Kalikasi’ and changed the financial proposal in the tender he participated in after the deadline, reducing it from Rs 670 million to Rs 600 million. The charge sheet states that Pandey accessed the PPMO website through his username ‘Kalikasi’ and changed the financial proposal after the deadline, reducing it from Rs 670 million to Rs 600 million.
‘It has been found that the contract name, tender details, bid prices and other documents were stolen and altered by searching for them using VPN and remote desktop protocol,’ the charge sheet states. ‘If you are interested, we can think of it, it has also been found that there is a difference of Rs 1.3 million and they are trying to lure you to settle the contract.’
According to the police, the main culprit in this case, Deuja, a computer operator, had ‘sufficient technical knowledge regarding programming, database and server management’. ‘It is seen that he misused his technical knowledge and access to the system called E-GP and played the role of a financial facilitator and benefited from the construction company,’ said CIB Chief AIG Manoj Kumar KC. ‘It is also seen that Deuja received Bitcoin worth US$20,000.’
Police say that Sanjay Bhatta, among the accused, admitted to transferring Bitcoin worth Rs 2.3 million, including Rs 1.3 million in the first installment and Rs 1 million in the second, for arranging the contract. The investigation revealed that another Nepali in the US assisted in that. Bhatta ‘admitted to making payments through Bitcoin by contacting Jeevan Limbu, who claims to be an employee of the Public Procurement Office,’ the chargesheet states.
According to the details collected by CIB, in some cases, the amount has been manipulated by changing the percentage of discount in the financial proposal documents. According to CIB Chief AIG KC, 13 people were arrested during the investigation into the case of unauthorized access to electronic media and organized transactions of intangible currency. The police had filed a report with their opinion, making the rest absconding defendants. According to him, after manipulating the tender documents, construction service companies used to pay for them in cryptocurrency. For that, the investigation revealed that computer engineer Bhaskar Raj Aryal arranged for the payment through a friend in the US.
In the case filed by the government attorney based on the police report, Pandey, Deuja and Aryal along with Bharat Dhami, Soli Thumka Nirman Services operator Sanjay Bhatta, Katuwal Construction and Shivaom Suppliers operator Sagar Katuwal, Gitanjali Construction Duhabi operator Jeevan Kumar Das, Shivansha Nirman Services Pvt. Ltd. Anil Shrestha, Visan Construction Pvt. Ltd. operator Kumar Shrestha, Chapur Nirman Services Pvt. Ltd. operator Amrit Bohara, and Inkan Pvt. Ltd. operator Swadesh Pokharel have been named as defendants.
Similarly, Kalpavriksha Builders owner Prakash Dhungana, Ashish Nirman Sewa owner Rishikesh Gauli, KBK Construction owner Rahul Jung Karki, Mann Construction owner Narayan Prasad Sitikhu, Ramita Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. owner Indra Bahadur Bohara, SK Construction Pvt. Ltd. owner Shanta Kumar Shrestha, Dakshinkali All Over Contact and Construction Pvt. Ltd. owner Niranjan Khanal, Nandi Construction Pvt. Ltd. owner Krishna Bahadur Khatri, Ashish Nirman Sewa employee Jyoti Subedi, Chapur Nirman Sewa owner Saroj Dahal, and Rising Peak Construction Pvt. Ltd. owner Sujan Adhikari have been made defendants.
RPP leader and former minister Pandey has stated that he has no information about unauthorized access to the VPS server from his account. "I have been working in the construction industry for 50 years, and I have established a good image in the construction sector," he said. "At the same time, a government contract was opened for the construction of a bridge over the Bakaiya River on the East-West Highway. After studying, evaluating, and discussing the contract, the rate of 670 million was determined and under my direction, employee Surendra Pandey conducted a competitive work." He said that there was no 'modification' work by taking any discount. "My company has not received this contract and it is not a contract that can be obtained by reducing the contract rate," he said.
