CIAA charges former minister, 15 others in NPR 51 billion Teramox Procurement scam

KATHMANDU, MAY 15: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption charge sheet against 16 individuals, including former Minister for Information and Communications Mohan Bahadur Basnet, over alleged irregularities in the procurement of the Teramox system. Each individual has been held liable for causing a financial loss of NPR 3.21 billion (Rs. 3,218,377,182) to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).

The CIAA has accused them of misusing public office and inflicting financial damage on the state through a flawed and unauthorized procurement process.

According to the charge sheet, the procurement of the Teramox system — a technology intended for international call monitoring and VoIP regulation — was conducted without adequate preparation, in violation of existing policy frameworks, and without the formal inclusion of the project in the NTA’s approved annual program.

The case has been filed not only against political and executive figures but also against technical personnel and private sector representatives involved in the process.  Apart from Basnet, the accused include former NTA chairmen Digambar Jha and Purushottam Khanal; members Dhanaraj Gyawali and Tikaprasad Upreti; officials Vijay Kumar Ray; deputy directors Rewati Ram Pant, Suresh Basnet, Hiranya Prasad Bastakoti, and Achyutananda Mishra; as well as directors Surendralal Hada, Dipesh Acharya, and Sandip Adhikari.

Private sector entities have also been implicated in this corruption case. The consulting firm BannerRise Solutions, its local agent Concern TradeLink, and the latter’s chairman Dilip Kumar Gurung and director Tej4 Prasad Kharel have all been named in the charge sheet.

The CIAA states that the then Minister abused his authority by unilaterally including the Teramox project, which had not been proposed by the NTA, in the Authority’s annual program for the fiscal year 2074/75 (2017/18). This act, according to the Commission, violated Clause 34(g) of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority Rules, 2054, and undermined the autonomy of the NTA, which was established under the Telecommunications Act, 2053.

Further, the CIAA claims that the project was incorporated without any feasibility study, cost estimation, legal or policy foundation, or consultation with relevant stakeholders. There was no identification of funding sources, implementation timeline, or operational modality. The program lacked clarity on expected outcomes, and no input was sought from the ministry or NTA officials. Despite these shortcomings, the project was hastily pushed forward.

The investigation also found that the cost estimation process and procurement planning violated multiple legal provisions, including the Public Procurement Act, 2063, and the NTA’s own Procurement Regulations, 2073. Separate and inappropriate procedures were reportedly used for drafting procurement plans, bidding documents, and consultancy services.

Moreover, the procurement documents lacked specifications regarding the quantity and technical standards of the equipment to be acquired. The anti-graft body has also pointed out that the use of a manual procurement process — in a contract exceeding NPR 2 million, violated mandatory electronic procurement requirements and appeared intended to limit fair competition.