"We hereby instruct NOC to suspend its decision to distribute bonus, and subsequent preparations," reads the CIAA decision. [break]
In a letter sent to NOC, the CIAA instructed the insolvent state-owned petroleum products supplier not to implement its decision, pending another decision by the commission.
"We decided to instantly suspend NOC´s bid to distribute bonus to staff, as we thought there could be a case of misappropriation here, till we came up with findings based on our investigations," said Bhagwati Kafle, secretary at the CIAA.
He also informed that the commission has already begun its investigation into the matter.
NOC has suffered a loss of well over Rs 22 billion over seven consecutive years till 2007/09. As of the end of fiscal year 2008/o9, it had Rs 11.19 billion in outstanding loans to settle with the government, the Employees Provident Fund and the Citizens Investment Trust.
The corporation, which continues to depend on loans to maintain imports and supplies of petroleum products, had decided to distribute Rs 198.8 million as bonus to staff.
"We felt that NOC´s decision on the bonus was questionable as it is incurring an accumulated loss or Rs 7.92 billion and suffering from a negative net worth of Rs 7.63 billion as of the end of 2008/09."
The anti-graft body has also asked NOC to furnish at the commission within 24 hours all documents related to the bonus. The commission said it took a decision to this effect on the basis of complaints against the NOC decision lodged at its offices.
"NOC has been hiking the price of petroleum products citing losses," said Secretary Kafle, adding, "It has given a lot of trouble to customers by frequently hiking the price of petroleum products. It cannot distribute bonus to its staff under such circumstances."
He said that NOC´s decision to please its staff with the bonus is not fair and justifiable. "Our investigations will expose all the realities at NOC," he said, adding, "Our initial investigation shows that there are a number of flaws in this fresh decision."
Myrepublica.com, on Tuesday, reported that NOC, which has frequently hiked the price of petro-products citing losses, had decided to distribute the bonus.
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