Excise sticker case: Nepal's anti-graft body lodge corruption case against Chief Secy, 10 others

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Nepal's anti-graft body on Sunday filed a case in the special court against the Chief Secretary and 10 others in alleged corruption during the printing of excise duty stickers.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Nepal's anti-graft body on Sunday filed a case in the special court against the Chief Secretary and 10 others in alleged corruption during the printing of excise duty stickers. In the filing, the CIAA claimed NRs 386.7 million rupees to have been embezzled by Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal along with 10 people and a company.

Officials from the CIAA on Sunday afternoon walked into the Special Court carrying nearly one dozen files and filed their case against the Chief Secretary who now is on the run. Sunday's filing marks, the first ever corruption case to be filed against a sitting chief secretary in Nepali history. Chief Secretary Aryal has been suspended from his post after the filing of the corruption charges. Along with Chief Secretary Aryal, Joint Secretaries, Ritesh Shakya and Tanka Pandey, Under-Secretary Ganesh Bikram Shahi and Section Officer Rabindra Paudel also has been named defendants in the case.

The CIAA also has lodged a case against the then executive director of Security Printing Centre Bikal Paudel, the then accounts officer Bishnu Prasad Gautam, the then section officer Harivallabh Ghimire and the then consultant of the centre Shakti Prasad Shrestha, the then director of the National Information Technology Centre Safal Shrestha. Print Cell Pvt Ltd and its proprietor Keshav Sharma have also been named as defendants.

Issuing a release later on Sunday, the anti-graft body, CIAA also has demanded to recover the embezzled amount and NRs 68.44 million already paid for printing stickers to be recovered from the defendants. The Security Printing Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had called for a tender for printing excise duty stickers for the Inland Revenue Department on September 20, 2022.

On December 12 of the same year, Print Cell Pvt Ltd won the contract to print excise stickers. The company and the Centre agreed to print 433.2 million pieces of excise stickers at the rate of 89 paise per piece. Earlier to this, a sticker would cost 25 paise. Calculated at 25 paise per piece, the cost of printing stickers is only NRs 108.3 million. However, the contract was signed at a ratecostlier by four times.

Print Cell had signed an agreement to purchase only sticker paper and ink. In the agreement, the remaining printing work was supposed to be done by the centre, and the contract was given to Print Cell at an 'abnormal price'. The company was paid NRs 50 million as advance payment. The contract for the purchase of stickers was awarded based on the decisions of officials, including Aryal and Paudel. Aryal was the Communications Secretary from August 9, 2021, to March 28, 2023. Aryal, who was transferred to the Prime Minister's Office, became the chief secretary on June 15 last year.

The Chief Sectary is also being investigated for his alleged involvement of embezzlement in the Teramox- telecommunications traffic monitoring and fraud control system purchase. (ANI)

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