State Minister for Land Reform and Management Man Bahadur Shahi submitted completely fake documents at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), claiming that he visited two districts, inspected government activities there and also instructed staff at the respective offices. [break]
He sought approval for his visit and also asked officials to reimburse bills, as per a fresh OPMCM directive. The OPMCM directive says all ministers have to seek approval before and after visiting any district.
Shahi, in his documents, claimed that he inspected the District Land Reform and Management Offices in Dhangadhi of Kailali district on July 30 and in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district on the 31st.
Following his claim that already visited the districts, OPMCM had asked the chiefs of the District Land Reform and Management Offices in Dhangadhi and Kanchanpur to verify whether Shahi visited there and attended any programs.
The chiefs of both Kailali and Kanchanpur Land Reform and Management offices informed OPMCM that no minister came for inspections on July 30 and 31 and neither did any program take place as claimed by State Minister Shahi.
OPMCM officials were quite surprised to see the documents Shahi submitted seeking approval after purportedly visiting the districts as just 15 days earlier he had sought prior approval for the trip, saying he was going to inspect government offices and instruct staff there.
OPMCM had turned down his visit proposal as he failed to specify program details and prove the urgency of the trip.
OPMCM officials then asked Shahi to furnish specific names, venues and the urgency of the visit if he wanted approval.
Shahi, responding after nearly 15 days, sent OPMCM documents claiming he had already visited the two districts and seeking approval for the trip so that bills could be reimbursed.
"We were puzzled by the documents," said officials at OPMCM, adding, "We first decided to verify whether he visited the districts as he claimed. Our verification proved that he never visited the districts but instead attempted to cheat us through blatant abuse of power and use of fake documents."
Based on the information provided by the chiefs of the two land reform offices, OPMCM has decided to neither approve his district trip nor reimburse him. "We want to see the prime minister taking strong legal action against Shahi for attempting to cheat government officials with fraudulent documents," said officials at OPMCM.
Shahi, however, challenged the OPMCM probe and claimed that he did visit the two districts. "I visited the two districts from July 26 to 31. I have no habit of lying about anything. Those who verified that I didn´t visit the districts are biased against me," State Minister Shahi told myrepublica.com.
He also claimed that he had inspected various activities related to emancipated Kamaiya bonded laborers and the survey and land revenue offices.
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