Singh accused of milking funds from Dairy Development Corp
KATHMANDU, OCT 01 -
Four employees’ unions of the Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) declared on Monday that they would bar their general manager, Siya Ram Prasad Singh, from entering the DDC office from Monday, accusing Singh of embezzling a large amount of the public enterprise’s money.
Organising a press meeting on Monday, the DDC employees charged Singh for trying to ‘embezzle huge amounts money by overvaluing costs for the construction of a production plant in Khumaltar, and overvaluing the cost of a powdered milk plant to be purchased from Chitwan Milk, a private sector dairy.’
“Although the DDC board had approved the proposed Rs 80 million for the construction of the production plant in Khumaltar, Singh unilaterally revised a new estimate at Rs 320 million,” said Ganesh Kumar Yadav, president of DDC Employees’ Association.
Similarly, the unions have also charged Singh for seeking to purchase the powdered milk plant of Chitwan Milk at an overestimated cost. “Although the plant’s estimated cost four years ago was Rs 560 million, Singh is seeking to approve the valuation of Rs 1.12 billion,” said Balram Phuyal, president of the DDC Employees’ Association Nepal.
“He also tried to pay a consultancy fee of Rs 14.4 million to the National Engineering Consultancy in Jwagal, Lalitpur, which made a revised cost estimate, as 4 percent of the cost amount, without taking the opinion of the technical management at the DDC.”
Yadav said the DDC chief made such efforts on the recommendation of the deputy general manager.
The employees’ unions also blamed Singh for bribing high level officials at the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) to continue in his position, even after his retirement age. According to the unions, Singh reached his retirement date on April 16.
The employees unions have also filed a complaint against Singh’s decision to pay service charges to the consultant company on August 14. Then, the MoAD directed the DDC to sanction the payment based on the threshold fixed by the DDC board.
Following direction from the ministry, Singh reduced the estimated cost to Rs 150 million, down from Rs 320 million, according to the unions. Yadav said Singh has already paid Rs 2.1 million as an advance to the consultancy company.
Among the other charges that the DDC’s employees put forward, the have accused Singh of not purchasing powdered milk and butter from Chitwan Milk in time, as per the previous agreement, which resulted in a loss of Rs 60 million for the DDC.
Similarly, Singh has also been blamed for undertaking Hetauda Cattle-feed without evaluating its financial liabilities properly. The employees have also blamed him for paying Rs 1.6 million in advance to purchase the Dolakha Dairy without consulting the concerned department of the DDC.
According to the DDC employees, they have already filed written complaints against Singh in the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, the National Vigilance Centre and the prime minister’s office. The Post’s repeatedly tried to contact Singh, but his cell phone was off.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
