In the fiscal year of 2022/23, seven arba thirty crore 84 lakhs rupees was used under the headings of travel, monitoring and evaluation. Some of the ministries in Koshi have the most expenditure under these headings, which are suspicious. Here is an investigation on this ongoing loot of the state treasury.
Kishor Budathoki/ Hari Adhikari | CIJ Nepal
The maximum airfare from Biratnagar to Kathmandu is NRs 9900 per person. On average, the fare is around NRs 5700. But, Shiva Kumar Karki, then secretary of Koshi province’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning claimed 31490 rupees for a round trip expense.
He claimed an additional 12 thousand rupees as travel stipend for his travel to Kathmandu on 20 Kartik 2079. He returned back to Biratnagar on 25 Kartik. The travel report that Karki filed states that he went to participate in a program related to fiscal federalism organized by the Ministry of Finance.
Karki held the position of secretary at the ministry from 11 Shrawan to 17 Shrawan 2079. He currently serves as Khotang’s Chief District Officer. When inquired about the unusual travel expenses, he said, “I will return your call once I back in office.” After that he did not want to be contacted.
Shyam Prasad Bhandari, the incumbent secretary at the ministry went to the Ministry of Finance in Kathmandu, on 5 Asar 2080. He returned on 11 Asar 2080 and claimed 24450 rupees. But according to the regulations, Bhandari should have received 12000 rupees at the rate of 2000 per day for his six-day trip.
His report states that he “went to participate in an interaction program on social security fund.” But the space to provide the proof of the visit is left empty. Nor does it clarify the headings under which the stipends were received.
He had previously worked as a spokesperson for the Commission for the Investigation of Authority. He claims that he has not received the stipend against the regulation. “I purchase my ticket online. The stipend included the ticket price as well. The stipend should not have been that different,” he said.
The Ministry had three different secretaries in a single fiscal year. The secretary-trio Suman Dahal, Shivakumar Karki and Shyam Prasad Bhandari seemed to have claimed unnecessary stipend and abused the state’s treasury. Dahal was in office from 11 Ashoj 2078 to 4 Shrawan 2079, while Karki was in office from 11 Shrawan 2079 to 17 Falgun 2079. Bhandari was in office from 17 Falgun 2079.
From 17 Asar to 23 Asar 2079 then Secretary Dahal came for a discussion at the Ministry of Finance. For a seven-day visit, he claimed daily allowance of NRs 12500 and NRs 10700 for flight. The Ministry did not provide his visit report upon our request.
Dahal is currently stationed at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and retorted that he does not remember old matter when asked about it. “Probably I got the stipend when I went to Kathmandu for various works. I probably submitted a visit report. But it may not contain details,” Dahal said.
Travel expenses regulations 2064 sub rule 8 of rule 7 states that if the travel is happening within 15 kilometers of the individual’s home or place of residence then they are ineligible to claim for the stipend.
All three secretaries Suman Dahal, Shiva Kumar Karki and the incumbent Shyam Prasad Bhandari own houses in Kathmandu, yet all three claimed allowances while going to Kathmandu. Then undersecretary Keshav Aryal and Punya Prasad Rijal, also claimed allowance when going to Kathmandu even though they own houses in the capital city.
Then undersecretary Keshav Prasad Aryal, section officers Satish Satyal and Fadindranath Adhikari submitted a report of traveling to Ilam and Dhankuta from 26 Asoj to 30 Asoj 2079. They claimed 6800 rupees as stipend. In the two-line report, it says the aim of the visit was “Ministry’s work” and the achievement in the report “the work assigned by the Ministry has been completed”. But no documentation has been submitted to prove the field visit.
The paperwork indicates that Aryal, Satyal and Adhikari went to Ilam and Dhankuta at the same time. The submitted paperwork also indicates that light vehicle operator Lal bahadur Tamang also went on the trip. As an allowance he claimed 4250 rupees. If the driver had gone, there must be fuel expenses. But fuel expenses in not indicated anywhere.
Dhankuta is due north from Biratnagar while to go to Ilam one needs to go east to Jhapa first then north to Ilam. It seems impractical they went to both places at the same time. The report submitted by undersecretary and officer level staff is also two line long and the report raises questions as the travel is done in different districts at the same time.
Undersecretary Aryal who was transferred to Provincial Public Service Commission in October 2023 said, “since this was a while ago, I have forgotten the work I have done at the ministry. Perhaps we had gone to visit project sites. It will be difficult to say without looking at the paperwork.”
Those in higher position such as the secretary, undersecretary and account officer are responsible to bring fiscal discipline to government budget, but they have drained the state resources and encouraged junior workers by distributing funds without proper institutional practise.
High level officers use office helpers and drivers for their housework. They manage the compensation for the work through the office rather than their personal means. The visit reports from the ministry also supports this accusation.
Sujata Sangraula received NRs 8250 as travel stipend for Sankhuwasaba visit from 24 Bhadra and 30 Bhadra 2079. Her visit was approved by the undersecretary as per the visit decision number 36 but she did not have to submit a visit report. Another officer helper Sudama Sah’s visit also looks suspicious. He received 7250 rupees for traveling to Okhaldhunga alone from 24 Bhadra to 30 Bhadra 2079 and there is another paper showing that he went to Okhaldhunga from 31 Bhadra to 6 Asoj 2079 to monitor a program.
But, according to the paperwork, the second time he went to Okhaldhunga he was in a team of seven people which included officer and account officer. But it is difficult to believe that Sudama returned from Okhaldhunga for a day to Biratnagar and went back the very next day.
In the first trip he received 7250 rupees for a seven-day period, and during the second seven day period he received 4250 rupees. Even though he travelled for an equal number of days.
“I returned after the first trip. But as soon as I arrived I had to go because Madam had an event to attend,”Sudama said, “I received the stipend after going to the event. But after the seniors said that there was an inconsistency in audit, I had to return the money.”
Similarly, drivers Lal Bahadur Tamang and Chandra Narayan Chaudhary were sent alone to Panchthar on different. Documents show that Tamang went from 29 Kartik to 5 Mangsir 2079 and Chaudhary went from 1 Mangsir to 7 Mangsir. For the trips Tamang and Chaudhary received 6250 rupees each. Another driver Kush KC was sent to Ilam alone from 2 Mangsir to 8 Mangsir and for that he received 6250 rupees. But it is not clarified why he was sent alone on a trip.
Government of Nepal’s former Joint secretary Ganesh Karki said, “Inspection has become an opportunity. I will go to Okhaldhunga they say and leave. The workers receive the stipend and budget gets spent.” Former administrator Karki says that state treasury is being abused for personal work in the name of observation.
Puspalata Adhikari, the spokesperson for the ministry says that office helpers and drivers are not required to submit visit reports. “They only go because of work. They might have taken an individual associated with the minister, secretariat or the honorable parliamentarian,” she says.
Receive the stipend, finish the budget
Rule 21 of Travel Expenses Regulation 2064 states that, “the official deciding on the travel needs to establish reliable proof and take further internal measures of control.” But Ministry’s officials have taken stipend against the regulation and distributed it amongst themselves.
The regulation further states that if false descriptions are submitted to receive payment then twice that amount will be deducted from the salary along with further disciplinary action. Similarly, Corruption Elimination Act 2059 states that those who falsify receipts to receive payment will be punished. But, when we searched for it we did not find any instances of such action.
Retired chief secretary of Koshi province Kedar Neupane says that such irregularities is also because of political instability. “Development expenditure is low, administrative expenses is high,” Neupane said, “it is difficult to do development related work, but it is easy to organize seminars, meetings and trips.”
When we studied the paperwork, we received as well as through our source at the Ministry we found that in order to receive the allowance without going to the field, officials submit an incomplete report in an old format. In all such reports, no evidence of the visit has been provided.
Former Joint Secretary Karki said that not presenting evidence of travel is a proof of corruption.
Former undersecretary Prem Prasad Sanjel says that travel and monitoring budget corruption has received a practical acceptance. “They create the paper for work, get the visit approved but continue to work from their office. Paperwork shows they are in Therathum but they are just at the office,” he said, “the auditors are aware but they are given a percentage. The auditor general is given a percentage and internal accounts controller is also given a percentage. This has been a problem since the Panchayat time.”
Ministry of Financial Affairs and Planning’s guideline for public expenditure and economic related directive 2023 rule 6 states that “visit allowance can only be given if there is a clear reason for monitoring travel, proof of travel to the intended destination, visit report as well as an analysis of the completion of the intended achievement.” But nobody seemed to cared about the rule. Officials who are responsible for implementing the rule are disregarding the rule and abusing their power. So how can anyone expect the implementation of this rule!
Rule 11 of the directive state that “If travel has been approved without the clarity of need, clear agenda and if the person charges for payment without going on the trip, then the cost will be recollected from the official who approves the trip.”
Travel allowance when going home, allowance taken without going anywhere
Officer Puspalata Upreti claimed 11200 rupees to visit Baradasdhi and Arjundhara Municipalities in Jhapa. In her report tshe traveled from 13 Asar to 19 Asar 2080. She claimed seven days for a place where you can visit and return to Biratnagar within a day itself.
Prior to that Upreti states the reason of Ministry’s work and claimed 11600 rupees for seven day travel to Kankai, Birtamod and Happy Land Park Surunga in Jhapa from 5 Bhadra to 11 Bhadra. Upreti’s home is in Jhapa. She also owns a house in Kathmandu.
When asked if she created the travel paperwork to go home, she responded, “why are you after my home and my in-laws home? A night at a hotel cost between 1600 and two thousand rupees. Will have to pay for food as well. As a woman, I must stay in a safe place. Can’t you understand that? Is 1600 enough for one day?”
She said she had not claimed unnecessary stipend and told us to ask remaining questions to the one who had approved the travel.
Undersecretary Khagendra Khadka claimed 7390 rupees for a road monitoring trip starting from Surunga Bazar via Sarandamati to Amarpath Sadak from 1 Asar to 5 Asar 2080. The distance between Biratnagar and Surunga is 82 Kilometers long. It does not seem reasonable to take five days for the trip. Nor has he provided documentation and photos to prove the trip.
Khadka’s home is in Jhapa. He also owns a house in Kathmandu. Undersecretary Khadka said that he claimed the allowance for office work. “Paperwork might have been misplaced in the office. But we have all the document.”
Satish Satyal, a section officer at the ministry, claimed 8400 rupees for a trip to Udaypur from 2 Asoj to 6 Asoj 2079. He claimed five days’ worth of allowance for a trip that would have been completed in a day. In the Ministry, he is also the one who is responsible to receive complaints.
Satyal’s report claims that he went to Udaypur Yatayat Karyalaya. But, according to Udaypur Yatayat Karyalaya no one from Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning came to the office in the fiscal year 2022/23.
Sixth Officer Anita Ghimire claimed 13000 rupees for a trip to Sankhuwasaba from 31 Bhadra to 6 Asoj 2079. Her report does not include any documents, office name, project description to prove her visit. Ghimire says that she is not able to give exact answers as it happened a while ago. “ I think I was deployed to get revenue related documents from Sankuwasaba,” she said and even though she said that she went to Khadbari in Sankuwasaba, the documents provided by Khadbari Municipality does not prove that she went to that office.
Similar corruption in agriculture
These perversions in the name of monitoring visits are not limited to the Ministry of Financial Affairs and Planning. It exists in all three levels of the government.
Officials at Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Cooperative in Koshi province are also seen to be doing corruption in the name of monitoring, visits and official works. So much so that officials have claimed allowance for going to visits to Morang and Sunsari.
Ministry’s Section Officer Shova Sharma received 8400 for six days of visit from 22 Falgun to 27 Falgun 2079 to Sunsari . Her four-line report states that she went to monitor Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Veterinary hospital and Animal Service Centre.
According to the records maintained by Agriculture Knowledge Centre, no official had come from the agriculture ministry in that time period. Similarly, Officer Dahal and support fifth Amrit Kumar Giri received payment after writing a report for a seven day trip to Ilam from 21 Bhadra 2079 to 27 Bhadra 2079. Dahal received 11800 and Giri received 8200 rupees.
But in the report filed at the Ministry on 28 Bhadra 2079, there are no evidence to prove the Illam trip. And the very next day, these two file a report claiming to have gone on a trip to Udaypur and Okhaldhunga. Similarly, two officers from the Ministry Shantikala Niraula and Taramani Niruala claimed allowance for going on week long trips to Morang and Sunsari.
Dhamala took 8400 for a monitoring trip to Dhankuta from 25 Asoj to 30 Asoj 2079. Then from 26 to 30 Paoush 2079 she claimed 6800 rupees for Dhankuta trip. After that, she claimed 8400 for a trip to Terathum from 23 Magh to 28 Magh 2079. All these visit reports are without details and lacks documentary proof. “That is standard practice. I did what everyone does.” In the report Niraula filed, she says that the location of travel is Kathmandu, but the place of monitoring is listed as district projects in Morang and Sunsari. From 22 Shrawan to 29 Shrawan she traveled in Morang and Sunsari, whose report was filed on 20 Bhadra. Again for a travel from 8 Bhadra to 13 Bhadra she traveled to Terathum, Dhankuta and Sunsari and submitted another report and claimed 8400 rupees. Niraula currently works at the farm animals and fishery development. She says, “I think I went to Terathum for a research. Why would anyone give allowance without any work?”
Ministry’s Assistant fifth Tanka Prasad Pokhrael claimed allowance for a trip to Jhapa from 25 Mangsir to Poush 2, 2079. Based on the information provided by the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Jhapa, though other officials from the agriculture ministry visited the center on different dates, we did not find that Pokhrael had visited.
Sixth grade account officer Lekhhari Bhattarai of Agriculture Ministry claimed 10 thousand rupees for traveling to Agriculture Knowledge Center in Ilam from 27 Asoj to 2 Kartik. On that same year, for traveling seven days in Shrawan to Panchthar, five days in Shankuwasaba and Bhojpur in Bhadra, Six days in Jhapa in Poush, 3 days in Magh to Jhapa and Sunsari and again 6 days in Magh to Terathum and six days in Jhapa, seven days in Okhaldhunga in Chaitra and claimed a total of 75600.
Other than that, he reported of visiting an undisclosed location from 31 Bhadra to 4 Asoj , Tehrathum and Taplejung from 8 to 13 Asoj, Dankuta 16 to 22 Kartik, Udaypur from 27 Mangsir to 4 Poush, Pachthar from 8 to 12 Mangsir, Jhapa from 2 to 8 Chaitra, again Jhapa from 22 Chaitra to 27 Chaitra. He claimed allowances on all these trips. But he did provide the accomplishments of the seven trips after 31 Bhadra. In the month of Chaitra, he claimed three visits and earned double allowances by claiming a trip to Okhaldhunga while still on a trip to Jhapa on Chaitra 8. Bhattarai who is now retired said, “I had gone for inauguration of service centre, supervision of grant distribution and monitoring of grain production for cattle. We had traveled a lot in Dhankuta, Terathum. As much as possible, I included photos of the trip.” Among the offices he had included in his report., Agriculture Knowledge Centre Ilam has informed that he had not visited the office.
Everyone loves ‘Ganesh’ assignments
To obtain travel allowances, officials in the provincial ministries are procuring ‘Ganesh’ assignments to gobble up funds. “Ganesh Kaj” is a dear phrase to the entire bureaucracy. The scriptures tell the story of Shiva asking Ganesh and Kumar to go around the world. Kumar went while Ganesh revolved around his parents and won Shiva’s heart. “Like Ganesh, not doing the instructed work and claiming TADA (visit allowance) is called Ganesh Kaj,” said former undersecretary Prem Prasad Sanjel.
In the report submitted by high level administration improvement taskforce 2080 reported that monitoring trips in provincial government has an unusually high expense with little achievement. The fiscal year 2078/79 report by the taskforce states “travel and monitoring expenses is higher than the total expenditure of four ministries and agencies in the fiscal year 2078/79.”
What is more surprising is this that the taskforce report finds that there are six ministries and agencies that has spent more than 70 percent of allocated budget. Despite the expenses it is unclear how many problems have been solved, the report states.
That year provincial ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning spent 49 lakhs 81 thousand rupees. The former Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperative (presently Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Cooperative) spent 3 crore 36 lakhs 22 thousand rupees.
Under the leadership of former secretary Chandra Kumar Ghimire, the taskforce found out that province ministries and agencies spent a total of 13 crore 95 lakhs 41 thousand for visit and monitoring expenses. In the fiscal year 2079/80 under the heading of monitoring, supervision and travel, Koshi province government spent a total of 13 crore 96 lakhs 8 thousand rupees. Under the heading travel alone, 3 crore 42 lakhs has been spent. In the previous fiscal year of 2078/2079, 3 crore 96 lakhs was spent. In the fiscal year, 2022/23 the three tiers of government spent 7 arba, 30 crore 84 lakhs 80 thousand rupees. Federal government is the highest spender among all three governments. The federal government spent 3 arba 38 lakh rupees rupees. The seven provincial government spent 85 crore 14 lakh and the local government spent 2 Arba, 48 crore 31 lakh rupees, the auditor general report states.
Except for headings of monitoring, and travel, budget is also used under the heading of training and seminar for travel. Budget allocated for development projects is also used to cover official monitoring visit expenses. The auditor has not objected on the abuse of state treasury. The report presented at Province Internal Control Office in the 2079/80 does not include the arbitrary abuse of travel budget happening within the ministry. The auditor general report is also quiet about this corruption in its report.
Province Internal Control Office Koshi chief Damodar Khatri says that if there are not enough documents during internal audit then it gets classified as unresolved. He claimed that many travel allowances are listed as unresolved. But auditor general and internal auditor reports do not list any unresolved instances.
Former teacher and activist Keshav Adhikari said that there is a tendency in all government offices to make paperwork but avoid the work. “Corruption is the reason why the general public is outraged against the provincial structure,”Adhikari says. “Such tendencies will push the country further into turmoil.”
Former government of Nepal’s chief secretary Dr. Bimal Koirala said that political instability contributes to the mindset where officials create irregularities. “Extreme politicization to all wings of the state is causing this situation,” he said. If politics does not improve this will not improve, he said.
In 2018 public expenditure reevaluation commission had suggested the government to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation process as it is weak. But that commission’s suggestion were not implemented.
The report states that a lack of compulsion to create records for monitoring and evaluation and lack of public records has not helped the budget cycle.
