Corruption case of above Rs one billion filed against government authorities, laboratories and private companies for importing substandard fertilizer 

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case in a special court on Sunday against the company officials, laboratories and suppliers of the DAP fertilizer purchased by the Krishi Samagri Company Limited (KSCL) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development last year.

The Commission has filed the case against Netra Bahadur Bhandari,  operator of the KSCL,  Manager Vishnu Prasad Pokhrel, Deputy Manager Durga Prasad Pandey, Assistant Manager, Pushkar Deep Budha,  Managing Director of Nepal Environmental and Scientific Pvt Limited Salil Devkota. The case is also filed against Sunil Babu Khatri, Mahendra Kumar Daga, Bholanath Chaudhary, Manoj Acharya and importer Joshi Biz House Pvt Ltd Kathamndu's Binit Joshi.

CIAA's spokesperson joint secretary Narayan Prasad Risal confirmed that the case has been registered.

According to him, the DAP fertilizer procured by KSCL under contract number 89077-078 was not of the quality prescribed by the Government of Nepal.  The imported good was also on contrary to the regulations, 2064, as the substandard fertilizer were  imported with the collective agreement of the government authorities of KSCL along with support from broker agents. 

The KSCL is accused of  granting permission to the company which had not renewed its license to verify the quality of the fertilizer.
 
According to the specifications of DAP fertilizer, the moisture content of the contracted fertilizer was found at 12.5 per cent while it should had not crossed the 1.5 percent mark. Similarly, the amount of nitrogen should have been 18 per cent but the imported fertilizer had only 14 per cent of nitrogen, amount of ammoniacal nitrogen were also less by four percent, amount of phosphorus was less by two percent and water soluble phosphate was less by eight per cent.

According to the test report obtained by the commission, the quality of the fertilizer was less than the specified specification. The amount to be paid is one hundred and fifty three lakh twenty two thousand four hundred and six rupees.

According to the commission, the erring officials and brokers had wrongfully issued certificate of the substandard fertiliser. The CIAA has accused them of preparing a false report stating that the quality is as per the approved specification of the company. Netra Bahadur Bhandari, managing director of the company, Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, manager, Durga Prasad Pandey, assistant manager and Pushkar Deep Budha, deputy manager were involved in the process of payment and appointment of illegal surveyors.

They have been fined Rs. 1,005, 322,406 which is the for 90 per cent evaluation of the total imported DAP fertilisers. 

Salil Devkota, Managing Director of Nepal Environmental and Scientific Practice, who is involved in commissioning the Commission to prepare false reports, and Sunil Babu Khatri, who is in charge of the lab, should be fully responsible for the test report. Mahendra Kumar Daga, a senior surveyor working at the company and Bholanath Chaudhary, a laboratory and consultant, and Manoj Acharya, who signed the agreement between the company and Nepal Environmental and Scientific Pvt. It has been demanded to be punished for the violation of Section 8 Sub-section (4) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059 BS.