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PAC divided over passport issue
KATHMANDU, JUL 19 -
The Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC), which is probing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) decision to award the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) contract to France-based Oberthur Technologies, is a divided lot.
While going through the papers related to the tender process submitted by the MoFA , lawmakers, expressing contradictory views, decided to ask the ministry for more documents before taking a call on the issue. PAC has asked the MoFA to furnish its findings against the complaints lodged by other competitors—Perum Peruri and De La Rue—that alleged Oberthur submitted fake documents to bag the bid. A committee headed by Chief of Protocol Mukti Nath Bhatta did not find any proof against the complaints.
Lawmakers representing the Nepali Congress (NC), which Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala belongs to, have a difference of opinion over the issue. Lawmakers Ajaya Kumar Churasia and Bimalendra Nidhi expressed dissatisfaction at the tender procedure while lawmaker Dip Kumar Upadhyay said the MoFA decision was lawful and in accordance with the PAC and Cabinet directives.
Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party lawmaker Hridayesh Tripati, stating there were some procedural flaws, sought a report of the probe carried out by the ministry into the matter.
“It is unnecessary to heat up the
issue since the MoFA has fulfilled the due procedure. It’s not good to oppose if a French company gets the deal,” UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Narayan Dahal said. That the issue has landed in the PAC does not restrict the MoFA from taking a decision on MRP.
Posted on: 2010-07-20 08:12
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