Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: Irregularities worth Rs 206.1 million have been found in the purchase of satellite bandwidth fare of Nepal Television.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has revealed such irregularities in the report of the investigation committee on the satellite bandwidth purchase agreement of Nepal Television, 2083 BS.

According to the study report, it has been found that additional bandwidth has been purchased by increasing the cost estimate unnaturally in the purchase process of satellite bandwidth rent.

According to the report, Nepal Television suffered a loss of Rs 163.36 million from 2005 to 2022.

According to the report, Nepal Television has earned Rs 8,71,144.76 due to the malpractice in the purchase of satellite bandwidth rentals.

TDS of Rs 1,99,82,559.22 and VAT refund of Rs 1,89,27,14.19 was found to be underpaid in the course of payment of satellite bandwidth fare.

According to the study, corruption has also taken place in the addition of various channels of Nepal Television. While adding the third channel of Nepal Television, it has been seen that more than Rs 72,283.30 has been issued from Thaicom and payment has been made from the Nepali side.

Likewise, the company was found to have suffered loss and loss by paying Rs 21,71,438,000 as satellite rent before the start of the broadcasting service. Similarly, it has been found that more than Rs 106,197.95 has been issued from Thaicom and payment has been made from the Nepali side even after adding the Kohalpur channel.

An additional Rs 8,51,511 has been paid. It has been found that the television has violated the Public Procurement Act and Regulations in the purchase and payment process of satellite bandwidth fare.

The study found serious errors and malpractices in public procurement process, tax payment, cost estimation, contract implementation and managerial decisions. According to the report, the provisions of the Public Procurement Act-2063 and Public Procurement Rules-2064 were found to have been violated in the purchase of satellite bandwidth rent.

According to the study, people working outside Nepal Television but who have been nominated as office bearers of the board of directors for about 14 years have not been able to disseminate real information from the senior management employees within the organization.

The members of the top management and the board of directors have been found to have done something detrimental to Nepal Television. The Ministry of Information and Communications has forwarded the report to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for further implementation.

The committee formed to investigate the satellite bandwidth signed by Nepal Television from 2002 to 2022 had submitted a memorandum of understanding to Minister for Information and Communications Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrestha on July 17, 2083. The report has already been submitted to Bikram Timilsina.

The study committee had studied the satellite bandwidth lease agreement that Nepal Television has been doing since 2002 with foreign service providers, its various complementary agreements, channel expansion, upgradation from Standard Definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) and equipment purchase.

The report concluded that the procurement and agreements made during various periods were against the law, procedural weaknesses, violation of financial discipline and caused financial loss to the organization.

The Ministry had formed the committee on June 4 to study the complaints received by various bodies related to the purchase of satellite bandwidth, reports of the Office of the Auditor General and issues of public concern.

According to the report, the agreement period was extended time and again at the old rates without following the competitive process while purchasing satellite bandwidth, payment was made before the service started, high amount of bill was paid even after the operation of the service and more bandwidth was purchased by inflating the cost estimate.

Similarly, the committee has pointed out the issue of the decision to purchase additional bandwidth from the same service provider even when the satellite in use was about to expire in 2012 and the decision was made 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 top management and board of directors involved in the original agreement from the original agreement in 2012 to the subsequent supplementary agreement have taken decisions against the interest of the organization. Stating that they have directly or indirectly taken the decision to cause financial and institutional loss to Nepal Television, the committee has recommended to initiate necessary action against the person concerned as per the law.

The report has also included the incident on June 6, 2022 when all channels of Nepal Television were disrupted for half an hour due to weakness in the decision-making process of the Board of Directors of Nepal Television.

Since 2002, Nepal Television has been continuously signing lease agreements with foreign satellite bandwidth service providers to broadcast its channels through satellite. During this period, questions were raised time and again on the decisions related to channel expansion, upgradation of broadcasting technology, supplementary agreement and purchase of equipment.