The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed two corruption cases in the Special Court on Friday. 

One is against then executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and the other against a Chinese supplier and its local agent.

Chargesheets were filed against former NEA Executive Director Jibendra Jha and Managing Directors Rameshwor Yadav, Yugal Kishor Saha and Chiranjivi Sharma Poudel, as well as 13 senior officials. 

Alleging their involvement in the transformer procurement scam, the CIAA has sought Rs 79.12 million from them besides confiscation of properties worth the amount.

They were said to be involved in purchasing as many as 575 transformers from the China-based Sichuan Dongfang Transformer Company (SDTC). 

The anti graft body is also pursuing charges against Manager Kailash Prasad Atal, Deputy Directors Harish Bahadur Pal and Dilliraman Dahal, former Account Officers Suresh Kumar Katuwal and Sushil Prasad Khanal, Acting Directors Astaratna Shakya and Tripurari Prasad Singh, Deputy Manager Surendra Prasad Paneru and Engineer Narayan Prasad Chaudhary. 

The CIAA has filed separate cases against SDTC Chairman Ou Yang Shi, Managing Director Hongyu Ouyang and its local agent Maninath Dhakal in connection with the anomalies. 

Local agents and the transformer manufacturer have been accused of embezzling funds by supplying substandard transformers. The CIAA has sought Rs 180 million from local representatives and the SDTC Chairman Ou. 

The anti-graft body has pointed out irregularities in the procurement and storage of transformers purchased, claiming that there is evidence to substantiate the involvement of various officials during different stages of the procurement process.

The CIAA began its investigation in August by taking NEA officials including then Managing Director Rameshwor Yadav and former ED Jibendra Jha into custody following reports that millions of state funds had been embezzled. The CIAA furthered its investigations in September 2012 following complaints that thousands of substandard transformers were imported from China and Thailand in the past five years and that a huge amount of money had been misused. The cases were expedited after Lokman Singh Karki took over as the CIAA chief. 

The Special Court on September 18 last year sought more than Rs 230 million from 13 NEA officials, including Yadav, and two suppliers on charges of embezzling state funds while purchasing transformers for the country’s power utility. Jha was released after posting a bail while Yadav is still in CIAA custody. Sources at the CIAA said the anti-graft body is investigating 12 instances in which transformers had been purchased and that most of the top NEA officials have been found to be involved in the scam. “We settled only two scams while ten cases are yet to be probed,” said a CIAA official. 

After problems appeared in equipment imported from China and Thailand in the last five years, the NEA in 2012 formed an investigation committee. The inferior transformers had resulted in higher power leakage, and a number of them had broken down. The committee, led by NEA board member Krishna Prashad Dulal, had examined 4,657 transformers installed at several stations and sub-stations across the country.

The NEA has imported transformers from Thai company Sahabhant Electric and four Chinese companies—Shenyang Dongneng Electricity Equipment, SVR Electrical and Sichuan Dongfang Transformer. A senior NEA official said transformers made of aluminium instead of copper had been imported.