Commission Alleges Misuse of Authority Funds in Hiring Consultants for Pokhara Airport Project

March 21, Kathmandu – The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case against 23 individuals, including former Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, on charges of corruption in the construction of the Pokhara Airport.

The charges have been brought against former directors of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Sanjiv Gautam, Rajan Pokhrel, Pradeep Adhikari, Deputy Director Mahendra Singh Rawal, Director Baburam Paudel, former Deputy Director Dhruv Das Bochhibhoya (and his wife Yamuna Devi Shrestha), and Deputy Director Praveen Neupane.

Additionally, the case includes former managers of the authority and key figures in the national pride project: Chandmaya Shrestha, Binesh Munkarmi, Himjyoti Thapa, Deputy Manager Pramod Nepal, Senior Accounts Officer Narendra Raj Sainju, Deputy Manager Sabin Phuyal, and Officer Rajaram Chaudhary.

The CIAA has also filed charges against consultant team leader Yambahadur Adhikari, ERMC chief Uddhavraj Chaulagain, architect Shobendraraj Joshi, Slate Consultants’ Pramod Dawadi, consulting company ARMC, and the contractor China’s CAMC company, including Project Manager Yang Zhigang, key representative Wang Bo, and the company itself.

In total, the CIAA has filed the case against 23 individuals, accusing them of causing a financial loss of NPR 461.5 million.

According to the CIAA, the contract agreement allocated USD 280,000 for the design review and construction supervision consultant services.

However, the commission claims that without utilizing this allocated amount, an additional NPR 503.4 million was improperly spent from a separate budget of the Civil Aviation Authority.

The CIAA further argues that issuing a letter of intent on September 7, 2016 (Bhadra 22, 2073), under these circumstances was itself improper. The commission stated, ‘The decision to appoint the consultants and the initiation of the procurement process were found to be conducted in bad faith.’

Instead of using the contract-allocated budget, the commission asserts that the costs were artificially inflated, resulting in duplicate expenditures from the authority’s assets.

Subsequently, the project signed an agreement worth NPR 428.9 million with ERMC Slate JV Company, with payments totaling NPR 406.8 million made.

Although the contractor was supposed to appoint the consultant as per the agreement, appointing the consultant using the authority’s budget was deemed inappropriate by the CIAA.

The commission has demanded full accountability from Secretary Adhikari while assigning varying degrees of responsibility to others involved.

Their investigation revealed that the cost estimates were inflated and that consultant fees should have been covered from the contract amount rather than direct payments from the authority.

It is also claimed that cost estimates prepared for using internal budget funds included an excess of NPR 195.2 million, with active involvement from then-director Pradeep Adhikari.

Despite funds for consultancy services, machines and equipment were reportedly purchased in bad faith, and disbursements began before loan agreements were finalized, according to the CIAA.