Kathmandu, January 2
A subcommittee under the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Representatives formed to investigate into suspected irregularities in the purchase of two wide body aircraft for the national flag carrier submitted its report to the Committee, recommending action against Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari among others.
The panel has recommended that the government immediately suspend Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai and Civil Aviation Secretary Krishna Prasad Devkota. Rai had served a term at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation before Devkota.
Likewise, the report says Managing Director of the Nepal Airlines Corporation, Sugat Ratna Kansakar, should also be suspended.
The panel has recommended action against Minister Adhikari as he ‘lied to’ the parliamentary committee as he was questioned about the issue. Likewise, he failed to carry out his responsibility satisfactorily, the report claims.
Similar actions have been recommended for Adhikari’s predecessors Jitendra Narayan Dev and Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Rai’s predecessor Shankar Prasad Adhikari as they did not take responsibility of the irregularities.
