Jan 06, Kathmandu- A corruption case has been filed against Dr. Namrata Singh, the then secretary of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Madhesh Province, and eight others.

A case was filed against Singh and others in a special court on Monday, claiming a loss of Rs 10 million, said Narahari Ghimire, spokesperson for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

The commission has filed a corruption case against Singh, the then senior agricultural economist of the ministry and the then office chief of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, Dhanusha, Shankar Prasad Shah, Agricultural Extension Officer Amar Chandra Mandal, Assistant Accountant Brajesh Kumar Shah, Yubarani Matsya and Agriculture Farm operator and chairman Laxmi Narayan Yadav, the then veterinarian of the ministry Ranjit Kumar Adhikari, Agricultural Extension Officer Abinash Kumar Jha, and the then agricultural economist of the Directorate of Agriculture Development, Dhanusha, Bikash Kumar Shah.

The Authority claims that the cost estimate of the specifications submitted by the beneficiary Yubarani Matsya and Agriculture Farm Pvt. Ltd. itself was approved without any comparison or check, as the program agreement dated Chaitra 29, 2079, between the grantee Yubarani Matsya and Agriculture Farm Pvt. Ltd., Aurahi Municipality-3, and the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Madhesh Province, stated that the liability of the second party would be 14.784 million and that the first party would proceed with the procurement process after submitting a bank guarantee equal to that liability to the first party.

The authority stated that the bank signed the agreement without sending a letter to come and sign the agreement with a bank guarantee of Rs. 1.132 million for a period of 13 months. The bank signed the agreement without submitting a bank guarantee of only Rs. 1.1 million three days after the date of signing the agreement, and accepted the fake bank guarantee of Rs. 32 thousand less without verifying whether it was issued by the bank or not.

The Authority has claimed that the bill for the purchase of goods worth 22.64 million rupees for the payment of the subsidy amount, including documents submitted by Yubarani Matsya and Agriculture Farm Pvt. Ltd., shows that the price and value-added tax amount are abnormally low in the bill submitted for payment.

The authority has concluded that the customs declaration form submitted after the date of payment application was accepted and that in the visit report submitted by the visiting team including Shankar Prasad Shah after the on-site visit to Yubarani Matsya and Agriculture Farm Pvt. Ltd., it was found that the necessary machinery was being installed for the expansion of the feed industry, but the machinery was not in a condition to be inspected.