Kathmandu, July 21: The Ministry of Information and Communications has sent the report prepared by the study committee on Nepal Television’s satellite bandwidth rental purchase to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.
The Ministry sent the report on Tuesday, requesting for necessary study, further investigation and action as per the law. The study committee formed to investigate the satellite bandwidth purchased and rented by Nepal Television from 2002 to 2022 had submitted its report to Minister for Information and Communications Dr Bikram Timilsina on July 17.
The study committee had studied the entire process related to satellite bandwidth rental agreements, various supplementary agreements, channel expansion, upgrade from Standard Definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) and equipment procurement that Nepal Television has been making with foreign service providers since 2002. The report concluded that illegal actions, procedural weaknesses, violations of financial discipline and serious shortcomings were found in the procurement and agreements made during various periods.
The ministry had formed the study committee based on complaints received from various sides regarding satellite bandwidth procurement, reports from the Auditor General’s Office and issues of public concern. The report submitted by the committee stated that the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2063 and the Public Procurement Regulations, 2064 were violated in the procurement processes, with an estimated loss of approximately Rs. 206.1 million.
The investigation found that the contract period was repeatedly extended at the old rate without following a competitive process, payments were made before the service started, bills were paid in excess after the service was operational, and bandwidth was purchased more than necessary by unnaturally increasing the cost estimate. Similarly, the committee has also pointed out the issue of selecting a bidder who was technically ineligible in 2012 for the procurement of services and deciding to purchase additional bandwidth from the same service provider even when the life of the satellite in use was about to expire.
The report states that the senior management and board of directors involved in the 2012 original agreement to subsequent supplementary agreements made decisions against the interests of the organization. It has been recommended that necessary legal action be taken against the concerned persons for making decisions that directly or indirectly caused financial and institutional losses to the state-owned Nepal Television.
Similarly, it has been mentioned that the officials of the Board of Directors were not provided with realistic information by the higher management within the organization and that the technical staff of the Ministry and Nepal Television did not play an effective role according to their expertise and responsibilities.
The study committee has concluded that issues such as non-competitive procurement, procedural irregularities, violation of financial discipline, unnecessary financial burden and conflict of interest have been identified and recommended to the government to take necessary action against the concerned persons as per the prevailing law.
