January 4: The government has formed a high-level probe committee to investigate into the alleged irregularities in the procurement of the wide-body aircraft for the Nepal Airlines Corporation.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to form the three-member committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Govinda Prasad Parajuli. Other members of the committee includes former Deputy Attorney General Narendra Prasad Pathak and Chartered Accountant Madan Sharma, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota. The government formed the probe committee after a parliamentary sub-committee prepared a report alleging misappropriation of around Rs 4 billion during the procurement process and recommended action against high-ranking officials as well as sitting minister and former ministers.
The probe committee has been mandated to submit a report within 45 days after investigating the procurement of two Airbus aircraft.
A report made public by the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament on Wednesday had recommended action against Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari as well as former tourism ministers Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Jitendra Narayan Dev.
The sub-committee headed by lawmaker Rajan KC has also recommended suspending Director General of Nepal Airlines Corporation Sugat Ratna Kansakar, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Krishna Prasad Devkota and former secretary at the ministry Prem Kumar Rai, who is currently the home secretary.
The Public Accounts Committee had formed the sub-committee in December to investigate into irregularities during the procurement of the wide-body aircraft. The panel has concluded that the authorities were involved in misappropriating Rs 4.37 billion while procuring the aircraft. On Wednesday (January 2), coordinator of the sub-committee KC handed over a 38-page report of investigation to the chairman of PAC Bharat Kumar Shah.
