At a time when the farmers have been beseeching the politicos and government officials for the chemical fertilizer for long, the officials in the Agriculture Inputs Company Ltd, the government body to supply the fertilizers, are found to have been involved in the financial irregularities while importing chemical fertilizers in cahoots with the suppliers.
As per the case filed against the Company officials by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the Company was found irregularities while importing nonstandard chemical fertilizers.
The CIAA investigation showed that the Company under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock failed to meet the quality criteria while importing the DAP fertilizer for the fiscal year 2077/2078BS. They embezzled such huge amounts by buying low-quality fertilizer.
The Company had asked Nepal Environmental and Scientific Service Pvt to give a report against competitive bid in line with the Chemical Fertilizer (Control) Order, 2055, and Public Procurement Act, 2063 and Regulation.
The imported chemical fertilizer failed to meet the quality/standard set by Nepal Quality Control and Metrology Department. Payment of Rs 1.53 billion was made by preparing a fake report.
The CIAA filed the case against Managing Director at Agriculture Inputs Company, Netra Bahadur Bhandari, Manager Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, Assistant Manager Durga Prasad Pande, Deputy Manager Puskar Dip Budha with the demand of the recovery of Rs 1.53 billion. Information to this was shared by CIAA Spokesperson Narayan Risal on Sunday.
The CIAA also filed the case against Managing Director at Nepal Environmental and Scientific Service Pvt, Salil Devkota, Lab Director Sunil Babu Khatri and others. Similarly, the supplier Binit Joshi of Joshi Biz House Pvt has been filed a case in the Special Court with the demand of similar recovery.
