The NOC top brass had been charged of misappropating tax money by allocating bonus to their staffers last year against the government’s order not to do so.

On September last year, the anti-graft body had arrested the then NOC Acting Managing Director Suresh Kumar Agrawal including  Director of Finance Department  Nagendra Sah and managers Netra Prasad Kafle and Kamal Prasad Sharma, in charge of illegally paying bonus amounting to Rs 25.3 million for the fiscal year 2008 to employees in 2012.

However, they were released after the top officials assured that the staffers would pay back the bonus amount given to them.

On Wednesdaty, the CIAA arrested NOC’s Officiating Managing Director Sagar Satyal, Director Nagendra Sah and Managers Kamal Prasad Sharma, Baburam Rai and Netra Prasad Kafle. Other held were Deputy Manager Nawa Binod Pokharel, Assistant Manager Pradipman Basi and executive Devi Prasad Neupane. Deputy Directors Sharad Prasad Paudel and Shusil Bhattarai are absconding.

Shreedhar Sapkota, spokesperson at the CIAA, said they held the officials to carry out further investigation. “We have targeted to take the case to the conclusion as soon as possible,” he said.

NOC sources said that the CIAA was forced to arrest the officials at the employees did not returned the money they were paid as bonus.

 In August 2010, the NOC had decided to distribute Rs 198.8 million as bonus among its employees for the fiscal year 2008-09 from its “profit” of Rs 3.31 billion. However, the CIAA had intervened at the time, saying that the Act does not allow the distribution of bonuses in institutions that are in huge debt and facing a massive cumulative loss.

NOC distributed bonus although it owed debt worth Rs 11.44 billion by the end of 2008-09. Based on the complaint, the CIAA wrote to the Finance Ministry to stop the bonus distribution. The CIAA estimates NOC has incurred a loss of Rs 17.2 million due to the unlawful distribution of bonus. However, the NOC top brass had claimed that bonus was endorsed by its board and that the corporation had paid the government Rs 5.76 million in bonus tax.