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Govt to probe local bodies’ shenanigans
KATHMANDU, AUG 08 -
The Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) has taken up what is said to be one of the largest irregularities involving Rs. 3 billion committed by local government bodies across the country.
FGCO has asked all District Treasury Controller Offices (DTCO) to submit details of the fund illegally transferred to the third account known as Account ‘C’, which cannot be frozen, to the National Vigilance Centre. The move follows an NVC investigation’s confirmation last week that local bodies across the country stashed around Rs 3 billion on the sly from their development budgets into respective Accounts C just before the last fiscal year ended.
FCGO has asked them to submit details and has also warned that their depositing budget into Account C constitutes “serious violation” of the Anti-corruption Act 2059. Earlier, NVC had directed the FCGO, the body authorised to look after proper utilisation of the budget, to provide details. FCGO also issued a circular to subsidiary bodies asking them to give details of funds transferred and list the officials involved.
“The details that have emerged indicate that billions of unspent rupees from local budgets were transferred into account C,” NVC Spokesman Sher Bahadur Dhungana said. Till now, around 15 district development committees (DDC) and municipalities have dispatched details of budgets transferred.
Biratnagar Sub-municipality deposited Rs 20 million, Kanchanpur DDC 4.6 million, Tansen municipality Rs 810,000 and Ramechhap DDC Rs 760,000, according to NVC records.
The Gorkha DDC transferred Rs 16.9 million, Gorkha Municipality Rs 5 million, Nuwakot DDC Rs 29.5 million, Udayapur DDC Rs 6.9 million, Triyuga Municipality Rs 7.3 million, Kathmandu DDC Rs 16.2 million, Bhaktapur DDC Rs 4.6 million, Rupandehi DDC Rs 4.4 million, Thimi Municipality Rs 47.7 million and Ilam Municipality Rs 936, 649 into account C.
The Post had published a report on Thursday that local bodies across the country have stashed around Rs 3 billion into account C just before the last fiscal year ended.
Most local bodies try to spend allocated budget got from the government, donors and taxes collected before the end of fiscal year. If the money remains unspent and these bodies deposit money into accounts that cannot be frozen, it is a pointer to malafide motives.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority lauded NVC’s initiatives and expressed its willingness to assist. “We stand ready to assist NVC,” CIAA Secretary Bhagwati Kafle told the Post. The Ministry of Local Development is also taking initiatives to enforce rules.
Posted on: 2010-08-09 07:41
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