Kathmandu, Jan. 7
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation
Rabindra Adhikari has denied all accusations of financial misappropriation labelled
on him by the sub-committee formed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of
the Parliament in the purchase of the two wide-body aircraft for the Nepal
Airlines Corporation (NAC) last year.
"I am not involved in the procurement
process of the wide-body Airbus 330-200. I had only tried to ensure that the
aircraft were delivered to the NAC on time, and operate commercial flights
using those planes," he said at a press conference organised to give his
say on the wide-body purchase scam.
He appealed to the anti-graft
bodies to conduct a transparent investigation into the matter and bring out the
truth and punish the guilty.
Minister Adhikari also assured
his full cooperation in the investigation process carried out by the
examination commission formed by the government and other responsible bodies.
Replying to the accusations
made by the House panel, he said, "I take the parliamentary committees in
high regard. But at the same time, development should not be affected in the
name of investigation."
He made his saypublic five days
after the PAC subcommittee concluded that about Rs. 4.355 billion was
misappropriated while obtaining the jets, and recommended taking stern actions
against the incumbent Tourism Minister.
The subcommittee report had suggested
holding two former tourism ministers Jitendra Dev and Jiban Bahadur Shahi morally
responsible while demanded maximum punishment to Managing Director of NAC Sugat
Ratna Kansakar, chairmen of Board of Directors Prem Kumar Rai, Shankar Adhikari
and Krishna Prasad Devkota and all officials who were involved in the
procurement process.
"NAC is an autonomous
organisation and is run by the Board of Directors and executive head. Therefore,
the minister has no role in the organisational process of the company other
than the policy leadership," Minister Adhikari said.
"When I held the rein
of the ministry, the Sales-Purchase Agreement (SPA) between the NAC and AAR
Consortium was already concluded and the payment schedule was also approved.
So, I had no legal grounds to change the schedule or stall the payment,"
he added.
He said that although the
Auditor General's last year's report had questioned the intention behind the
procurement process, he had no excuse to stop the payment since the Supreme
Court had directed to complete the payment process.
According to Adhikari, if
he had not sent the last payment of the aircraft price, Rs. 9 billion which was
already paid, could be at risk, and there could have been a situation whereby
the country would have neither the plane nor the money.
Punish
ministers and officials: PAC
Kathmandu, Jan. 7
The Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) of the Parliament on Monday directed the government and
Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to hold the former
and sitting tourism ministers—Jiban Bahadur Shahi, Jitendra Dev and Rabindra Adhikari–morally
responsible in the procurement of the wide-body jets and punish them as per the
law.
Although the subcommittee
formed to look into the issue had recommended holding the former two ministers
morally responsible and taking actions against the incumbent Minister Adhikari,
the House panel now has demanded similar actions against them.
"So far as the
involvement of the ministers in the procurement is concerned, the secretary of
the Ministry is the chairman of the NAC Board of Directors and has the
responsibility of clearing the arrears. Therefore, the greater responsibility
for cautions was of the secretary, the ministers did not exhibit enough
attention to the aircraft procurement process which was against the Public
Procurement Act 2006," said the PAC.
The PAC had directed the
government and the CIAA to suspend Secretary of the Tourism Ministry Krishna
Prasad Devkota and Managing Director of the NAC Sugat Ratna Kansakar and
initiate a process to exert maximum punishment to them as they incurred a huge
loss to the country.
"Even though the
report of the AG had mentioned that the aircraft procurement process was not
according to the law, Secretary Devkota has continued the process of buying an
old aircraft and made the payment of the later instalments instead of examining
the procurement activities," read the PAC decision.
Similarly, the committee
said that Kansakar played the main role in purchasing the old aircraft with
ill-intention. "He has abused his authority. Therefore, he should be
suspended and punished as per the law."
The PAC has demanded
similar actions against the erstwhile tourism secretary and NAC Board Chairman
Shankar Prasad Adhikari.
It also held the NAC Board
members responsible in abusing their authority and demanded severe actions
against them.
The House panel also
directed the government and the CIAA to investigate into the involvement of the
members of various sub-committees formed while procuring the aircraft.
However, the PAC gave a
clean chit to former Tourism Secretary and NAC Board Chairman Prem Kumar Rai
saying that he was not holding the post while formulating the Request For
Proposal (RFP) to procure the aircraft.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 8 January 2019.
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