Kathmandu, Aug 5: An investigation committee formed on procurement of equipment and service for Nepal Television (NTV), currently a public service broadcasting, has submitted its report to the government, exposing irregularities and anomalies in the procurement.

The investigation committee submitted its report to Minister for Information and Communications Dr Bikram Timilsina on Wednesday. It had investigated the procurement of digital transmitter, audio-visual and graphics systems, playout automation and online platforms. The report concluded that there were illegal decision and faulty procedure, causing financial liabilities.

The team found that it was ambitious and unrealistic to have timelines for analog switch off and digital switch over though it was said to be in line with roadmap prepared with the assistance of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Similar ambition was found in case of planning the conversion of terrestrial television broadcasting to a completely digital system in Nepal. It is because of the same reason NTV’s broadcasting failed to move forward as per the plan of adopting completing digital switch-over.

Even the budget under the title of ‘Archive Digitization’ for the fiscal year 2079/80BS was used as a project of the previous year giving the title of audio-video equipment in the fiscal years 2080/81 and 2081/82. It was a breach of the rules and opening LCs from the same budget to proceed with the procurement process.

Other activities capable to create long-term financial liabilities were also exposed by the probe. NTV Board of Directors decided to allocate Rs 48.7 million from internal sources to manage the purchase of audio and video devices without taking prior approval from the line Ministry, thereby creating additional financial burden on the organization’s internal budget. NTV is operating the service internally even after the expiry of five-year contract for operating the digital platform in 2024.

A legal fault was found in the evaluation process of the bid made for purchasing graphics systems (NTV 074/75-11). Importantly, the contract awarded to the bid which had failed the technical specifications.

The officials and employees involved in the procurement agreement acted illegally for the contract signed and document was tampered in case of making a party to Soheto Singapore Pte Ltd on October 4, 2018. LC was opened and payments made in line with tampered agreement.

Even the policy-level recommendations are furnished to the Ministry and Nepal Television in order to avoid such problems in the future. The current roadmap enforced for digital terrestrial television broadcasting should be reviewed, the probe team suggested, adding that a timely and practical broadcasting development roadmap should be in place with proper coordination in case of terrestrial, satellite, fiber and OTT systems. The competition between domestic suppliers should be given priority while purchasing technical equipment available in Nepal.

Reasoning that the activities were found irregular and illegal as per Corruption Prevention Act, 2059, the probe committee recommended action to those involved in irregularities in line with Clause 14 (1) of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act, 2048.

The Ministry of Information and Communications had formed a four-member probe panel under the coordination of Dr Sudip Bhattarai on June 15 to conduct a rigorous study on complaints and public concern in the procurement.