According to officials, Minister without Portfolio Laxman Lal Karna and State Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Shatrughna Prasad Singh (Koiri) submitted forged travel and accommodation bills for reimbursement. [break]
“Though the amount claimed by the two ministers was not huge, we decided not to reimburse the amount as the bills submitted by them were forged,” a source at the OPMCM informed myrepublica.com.
State Minister Singh has claimed that he spent Rs 12,000 for his two-day accommodation in Pokhara though a minister is only allowed to spend Rs 1,000-1,500 each day for the purpose. “We refused to reimburse as the amount claimed by him is unexpectedly high.” The OPMCM, however, has reimbursed all other bills produced by Singh.
State Minister Singh, however, said he was unaware about the incident. “My personal assistant takes care of my expenses. I am unaware if the bills produced were forged. I can only tell you after verifying it with my PA,” he said.
Similarly, Minister without Portfolio Karna has claimed reimbursement of his travel expenses from Kathmandu to Simara. “Though the minister and his aides went to Simara by bus and came back via flight, he has claimed expenses for two-way air tickets,” a source informed myrepublica.com, adding that the OPMCM reimbursed Rs 3,400 instead of Rs 6,800 claimed by Karna.
According to another high-ranking source at the OPMCM, this is a rare incident in which the OPMCM has refused to reimburse ministers´ travel and accommodation bills.
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