Kathmandu. The probe committee has submitted its report to the government, pointing out irregularities and legal errors in the equipment and services purchased by Nepal Television (now the Public Service Broadcasting Agency) in the past years.

The probe committee on the purchase of Nepal Television’s digital transmitter, audio-visual and graphics system, playout automation and online platforms, 2083 BS submitted its report to Minister for Information and Communications Dr Bikram Timilsina on Wednesday. The report has concluded that some procurement processes of Nepal Television were made against the rules, legal errors and created financial liability.

According to the committee’s report, the timelines for analog switch-off and digital switch-over set in the roadmap prepared with the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with the objective of transforming the geo-surface television broadcasting in Nepal into a fully digital system have not been found to be overly ambitious and realistic. As a result, the broadcasting of Nepal Television has not yet been able to move forward as per the goal of a fully digital switch-over.

Similarly, the probe committee has concluded that the budget received in the fiscal year 2079/80 under the title of ‘Archive Digitization’ was spent as the previous year’s project in the fiscal year 2080/81 and 2081/82 under the title of audio-video equipment.

Similarly, the report has pointed out that activities creating long-term financial liability have been carried out against the ministry’s previous directives. According to the report, the Board of Directors of Nepal Television has allocated Rs 48.7 million from internal sources to pay for the purchase of audio and video equipment, which has caused additional financial burden on the organization’s internal coffers. According to the report, Nepal Television has been operating the service internally after the five-year agreement to operate the digital platform expired in 2024.

The committee also concluded that there were legal errors in the evaluation process of the tender for the purchase of graphics system (NTV 074/75-11). It is also mentioned that the contract was awarded to the bidder who failed the technical specification.

Likewise, the report states that the proposal was approved for not fulfilling the condition despite the clear provision in the tender document that participation through ‘consortium’ was not acceptable and the mandatory conditions related to price proposal were not followed. According to the probe committee, the employees and officials directly involved in the process of tender evaluation, agreement and payment were found to have carried out unauthorized and illegal activities against the provisions of the tender documents.

Similarly, the committee concluded that Soheto Singapore Pte Ltd was made a party to the agreement on October 4, 2018 by tampering with the purchase agreement already signed and recorded.

The probe committee has also given various policy suggestions to the Ministry and Nepal Television to prevent such problems from happening in the future. The committee has suggested reviewing the current roadmap implemented for digital geo-surface television broadcasting, preparing a timely and practical broadcast development roadmap by coordinating geo-surface, satellite, fiber and OTT systems and giving priority to competition among domestic suppliers while purchasing technical equipment available in Nepal.

Stating that the irregularities and illegal activities identified by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) were found to be investigative under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059, the committee has also recommended to take necessary action as per Section 14 (1) of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act, 2048.

Questions have been raised on the transparency, competition and compliance of the legal process in the procurement process of various equipment and services for the modernization of technology and broadcasting system on Nepal Television for the past few years. The Ministry of Information and Communications on June 1 had formed a four-member probe committee under the convenorship of Dr Sudip Bhattarai to look into the complaints. The committee was mandated to conduct factual study of complaints, reports and issues of public concern related to equipment, software and digital systems purchased by Nepal Television at different times and submit a report with suggestions.

The Ministry had initiated investigation process after complaints were received at various bodies regarding the graphics system, new media (digital platform) service, audio-video equipment, digital transmitter and playout automation system purchased by Nepal Television.

Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Communications had investigated the purchase of satellite bandwidth of Nepal Television through a separate committee. The probe committee has already submitted its report to the Ministry with the conclusion of embezzlement of more than Rs 205 million, while the Ministry has already submitted 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 study.