| Username |
Post |
| utsav |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 09:18 AM
I wonder how many "great" NGOs fit into this category?
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=9483
------------------------------------------------------------
Milking aid money the CVICT way
By Ghanashyam Ojha & Yuvaraj Acharya
KATHMANDU, March 24 - It was in 1991 that a group of 15 professionals started CVICT, a non-governmental organization (NGO), in a two-room apartment with the noble cause of helping victims of torture. Today, the NGO has its own five-story office complex, programs in 21 districts and an annual budget of over 50 million rupees.
The unprecedented progress of CVICT certainly seems exemplary and worth emulating. However, those closely monitoring the NGO claim that the NGO is not, in fact, an icon, but more of a blatant example of how such organizations have become centers of corruption by misappropriating the aid money that they acquired in the name of the downtrodden.
While CVICT was progressing into an NGO of international repute, it was simultaneously earning a bad reputation as being a family-run establishment that was amassing considerable sums of money for its president, Dr Bhogendra Sharma, that was actually meant for the poor and the needy. Except for Dr Mathura Shrestha and Dr Bidur Basti, all other 12 founding members have forsaken Dr Sharma, and most of them now flay the organization for what it truly is.
CVICT is now staffed by Dr Shamra’s family members. In the seven-member Board of Directors, Dr Sharma is the president and his younger brother, Shailendra Guragai, is the General Secretary. Other members of the board include his wife, Sushila Sharma; his brother-in-law, Ramesh Subedi; and his close friend and the chairman of Rural Reconstruction Network (RRN), Dr Arjun Karki. The remaining two members are Devendra Ale and Bidur Basti.Dr Sharma has also appointed Daya Sagar Dahal and Shanta Adhikari, his first cousin and his sister respectively as accountants in CVICT.
Similarly, Hemanga Sharma, his other brother, is the coordinator of the legal committee, while his first cousin Phanindra Adhikari is the official at the technical department. Januki Adhikari, wife of Phanindra is also a staff at the NGO.
One of the reasons why NGOs often fill their boards and offices with the family members is that the District Administration Office, responsible for registering and renewing NGOs, demands audit reports and periodic election of the executive committee.
Asked why the positions at CVICT are filled with only family members, Dr Sharma said that only his family members, besides a few others, had initiated the establishment of CVICT. "It is only an allegation for the sake of allegation. All my people are efficient and carrying out their responsibilities properly," he said.
Dinesh Prasai, a former executive staff who left CVICT in 1998, charges Dr Sharma of always making sure that he has a majority in the board so that he can hold fake elections and hang on to his position.
A group of 10 CVICT officials, including Prasain, had submitted a memorandum to Dr Sharma demanding transparency in the organization in 1998. Many of the dissenters were given the axe later on without any reason.
Mandira Sharma, who worked as Director in the Women Prisons and Children Rehabilitation Project in CVICT for seven years, also left the organization after she had serious differences over how the organization was being run. "I tried to change the organization, but finally gave up," she said. She is now a director at the Advocacy Forum.
She said that she was shocked when Barbara Waveyman, country representative of Terresdesholmes, asked her why she was receiving Rs. 37,000 per month in salary from the project even after she had left the organization. "Then I knew that Dr Sharma was drawing the salary in my name even after I had left." She also clarified that she never drew more than Rs 12,000 per month as salary while she worked with CVICT.
Dr Sharma later met the country representative and made it clear that he did not take any amount after she had left the job.
(With inputs from Sunil Pokharel, a freelance journalist)
|
| utsav |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 09:19 AM
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=9531
----------------------------------------------------------
More skeleton tumble out of CVICT cupboard
BY GHANASHYAM OJHA & YUVRAJ ACHARYA
KATHMANDU, March 25 - In 2001, the European Union’s officials visited CVICT (Center for Victims of Torture) and inquired about the salaries of the staff working in the EU supported projects.The bosses blatantly asked all the staff to lie about their salaries. Dr Tanka Barakoti, who was drawing Rs 28,000 per month at the time, was asked to lie that he was drawing Rs 50,000 a month. "When Barakoti found out how he was being victimized, he left immediately," said a CVICT staff.
Corruption in an NGO, or for that matter in any organization, cannot be established easily. However, incidents like Dr Barakoti’s, and other facts found by The Kathmandu Post investigation have exposed misappropriations in CVICT.Our investigations have shown that Dr Bhogendra Sharma (his other family members use Guragain for their surname) was leading a humble lifestyle until 1990, before he started the CVICT.
Dr Sharma was born to a modest family of a priest who had migrated to Dhankuta from Sankuwasabha. He did his SLC from Dhankuta’s Jitpur Secondary School in 1975. "Madhav Guragain, Dr Sharma’s father was a middle class person," confirms Gopal Guragain, former lawmaker from Dhankuta.After completing his studies Dr Sharma worked as a District Education Officer for a short period. Except for this occupation, Dr Sharma, his wife and brothers have not worked anywhere else or earned money from any other sources.
The Guragain family, as per the District Revenue Office, Dhankuta, has no property in Dhankuta. The record, however, shows that they sold about 50 ropanis of land about a decade ago. As per our information, youngest among the three Guragain brothers, Gyanendra does short-term projects for the World Health Organization.
Despite having such a modest background, the wealth they have amassed after the establishment of CVICT is awe-striking.
Dr Sharma and his family now own about 16 ropanis of land and six huge buildings in the capital. Dr Sharma and his brothers Shailendra Guragai and Gyanendra Sharma have three separate buildings in Golfutar. They also own the buildings of CVICT office complex and the office of Bojini Hydropower Company.
Dr Sharma owns 2 ropanis and 1 ana plot (registered numbers 1388,1389,1390 and 1391) in Chapali. Similarly, his brother Shailendra owns 12 ana 2 paisa (regd numbers 559, 566) also in Chapali.
In Bansbari they have plots of 8 ropani 3 ana 2 paisa and 11 ana 1 paisa of land (regd numbers 299, 811, 1260, 1261, 1125 and 1127) in the name of Sharma family members including his wife Sushila Sharma.
Dr Shrama also has 3 ropani 12 ana 1 paisa land in Bishnu VDC-2 (plot numbers 681, 311 and 667).
Asked how come he collected so much of property in the capital, Dr Sharma claimed that most of it was his parental property.
"Besides this I work as consultant in other international organizations," he said.
According to Dr Sharma, Danish Embassy and other local organizations cooperated to establish and run the CVICT in Bansbari. In 1994 DANIDA provided 3.3 million croner (Rs. 39.6 million) for three and half years’ project. "It was the first time we started our activities," Dr. Sharma said.Dr Sharma was lucky enough to get support from all major donor agencies.
However, according to our sources UN Volunteers Fund stopped its support to CVICT, when it found out that CVICT had been selling one project to the three donors.
The Post requested all the donors of the CVICT to provide with the records of their support to investigate on the matter. However, except for DFID none responded.
Going by DFID’s record, it provided Rs 3.36 billion to the CVICT in March 2001 for the three-year Community Mediation Project. It had to spend Rs 11.96 million in the first year. However, in its annual audit report of 2001 to the District Administration Office (DAO), CVICT has shown only Rs 1.24 million as its annual income/expenditure.When asked Dr. Sharma said that the CVICT had a special understanding with the DAO, "According to which we submit our report only after the completion of the project," he said.
But the Assistant District Administration Officer in Kathmandu, Ganesh Bahadur Kunwar simply denied it. "All the NGOs should submit their total budget annually, not in phases," Kunwar said.
The audit report prepared by Narayan Bhatta of NPB Audit Co. has missed out the amount received from the USAID, EU and DFID in the year.
In addition to CVICT, Dr Sharma and his family have extended their empire in hydropower development. As per our source, Dr Sharma and family have majority share in the Rs 20 million Bojini Hydropower Company.
According to our Sankhuwasabha correspondent, Dr Sharma has shares of Rs. 8 million in the Piluwa River Hydropower Project in Sankhuwasabha district.
Meanwhile, Dr Arjun Karki and Dr Matharu Prasad Shrestha have clarified that they are not in the boad of the CVICT as mentioned in our story yesterday.
------------------------------------------------------------
|
| shirish |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 10:10 AM
"Other members of the board include his wife, Sushila Sharma; his brother-in-law, Ramesh Subedi; and his close friend and the chairman of Rural Reconstruction Network (RRN), Dr Arjun Karki."
Is this Dr. Karki the same one of the ANHF? Just curious.
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 11:05 AM
Just to make clear:
Arjun Karki in yesterday's statement in TKP said he's not a board member of CVICT.
Does this report surprise me? Not a bit. We all know the truth about a lot of NGOs in Nepal. They are milking foreign donors.
|
| Rastafariya |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 04:41 PM
Yo Birader Peopal. Why is you making them such a big deal of him Birader Sharma, Karki, Sharmas wife, broda, fada , moda and family?
Them peopal hurt nobody, Them peopal never take no money just like them leaders of da kingdom. Why them worry?
All them peopal very nice nice honest peopal just like their fada and grandfada who never cheated my fada and grandfada. Them is holy peopal. Dont be blaming and making accujasion to these nice nice SHARMA Peopal like you peopal did to him Girija and all other leaders.
Them is nice peopal
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 26-Mar-04 06:08 PM
I wonder: Why is it that most people (bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs)
who have been accused of corruption in Nepal tend to be people who have taken up residence in Kathmandu (i.e. come to Kathmandu from other parts of Nepal) in the
last 10 to 20 to 30 years?
True, some of the most 'successful' Nepalis were born outside of Kathmandu, and
their being from mofussil gets highlighted all the more when success stories
about them get written up about. I mean, if you are from Ramechaap, and
you have a Stanford MBA, you can dine on that for quite a long time in Nepal.
But when stories of some of the most corrupt Nepalis get written up about, their
native districts are mentioned only in passing.
For experiment's sake: If one does a careful study of "birth places" of people chargesheeted by CIAA (Akhtiyaar), I would say that one finds that close to 95 per
cent of the accused were born outside of Kathmandu.
Why is that?
And what's the significance of that, if any?
Sure, there could be a number of explanations as to why "bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs born outside of Kathmanduare are, all things being equal, more likely to
be publicly accused of indulging in corruption" , but for those who are forever bashing
so-called elites of Kathmandu (whoever they are!) for every sin that Nepal committs, this informal observation (to be formally tested) does provide a good enough "bujo" in the mouth.
The elites of Kathmandu, as far as I can figure out, have sent their sons and daughters/sons-in-law and daughters-in-law to the US and other countries,
and, quite frankly, are least bothered about the future of Nepal other than by
paying obligatory lip sevice.
I don't know Dr. Sharma, but having seen how some of these "corruption and
accusation" cycles run in Nepal, I predict that Dr. Sharma will be back on his
feet within a year, when this story will be all but history. That's the way it goes
here. Sadly.
Do you remember when CIAA had raided the houses of so-called corrupt officers
in August 2002? Well, it's March 2004, and ALL of those then-arrested officers
are free now . . . and most of them have been given their old jobs at Bhansaar
back. It's as if their arrests never happened!!
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| Shaiva |
Posted
on 27-Mar-04 08:49 AM
"Why is it that most people (bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs)
who have been accused of corruption in Nepal tend to be people who have taken up residence in Kathmandu (i.e. come to Kathmandu from other parts of Nepal) in the
last 10 to 20 to 30 years?"
Elementary, it happens so because:
1. Residents of Kathmandu are better thieves; they have been doing it for generations, so they don’t get caught.
2. They are related by marriage or concubinary to those who do the catching, so they are left even when they have their heads in the till.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 27-Mar-04 06:34 PM
That's a classic Babu Ram Bhattarai-style of reply . . . when asked why the maoists killed so many innocent people.
Also reminds me of a comment given by someone I then respected (but no longer do)
when he learnt of an act of corruption by a Nepali then working in an international aid organization: "Khayo ta khayo, bideshi ko paisa Nepali lay nai khayo" . . . as though that justified the corrupt act!!
The issue here is NOT so much as Kathmandu versus 'mofussil' ka residents as it is
about WHY is it that in the last 10 years or so of democracy, the people at the
center of most corruption cases (bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs) in Nepal have been relatively recent migrants to Kathmandu? If they are simply following
the old crooks . . . then why blame all thse crooks for things gone wrong?
Some more questions:
Is there a 'corruption virus' in the air and water of KTM . . . the kind of virus that infects otherwise "good" Nepalis who have come to KTM to do "desh bikas" but end up doing "stomach bikas"?
Could one identify a specific set of circumstances or contexts in KTM that abet one
to indulge in corrupt acts?
And even when acts of corruption are identified and reported in the press, why is
it that the accused are rarely tried, and even when they are tried, the legal cases
against them usually fall apart, usually on grounds of technicalities?
On another note, the phrase "Kathmadu ka elites" today has a very wide, therefore very DILUTED meaning. Today, in these thankfully democratic times, the phrase could easily denote, say, the age-old Goorju khalak of Dhoka Tole near Hanuman Dhoka as much it does rags-to-riches-from-Dhankuta-to-Kathmandu-in-two-decades NGO person such as Dr. Sharma.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 27-Mar-04 07:01 PM
>The issue here is NOT so much
> as Kathmandu versus 'mofussil' ka
>residents as it is about WHY is it
> that in the last 10 years or so of
>democracy, the people at the
>center of most corruption cases
> (bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs)
>in Nepal have been relatively recent
> migrants to Kathmandu
Ashu, I didn't know you are so serious about your argument. Frankly, I don't understand the merit of your argument at all, because it is so Dhruba-Kumaresque argument that you yourself once decried.
I think you assumed that we probably have seen the whole iceberg of corruption. But it is a naive assumption. What we have seen is only tip of iceberg. The reports that those who haven't paid bank loans are mostly royal relatives was confirmed to me by an executive director of Agriculture bank once. Birendra's relatives' unpaid electricity/water bills was once reported to be more than crores. Who do you think is reaping the benefit of arms purchase in Nepal? The commission agents, who doesn't pay taxes and appear in secrecy, are rumored to be Prajwal Shamsher, sons of Sher Bahadur's Saasu, and Rohini Thapaliya.These people are all KTM's own. We haven't seen nothing when we saw those twenty two lambs chained and shipped to Akhtiyar's office years back. That was not the whole story of corruption in Nepal.
Just to go back to the relatively past days: I bet you consider giving 'birtaa' was a worst form of corruption. In west, where you worked on behalf of bonded laborers, how do you think vast lands went to the some jamindaars? Birtaa system was the root. After taking all birtaa back from Brahmins in 1862 during famous Baasaththi Haran, Rana Bahadur Shah's own people started to assume the right to give the lands to their people. One famous example: After getting Kailali, Kanchanpur, Baake, and Bardiya, Shah rulers and Rana rulers divided it in two parts, and allocated gradually to their myrmidions. Birtaa system created a class of elites all over the nation completely consisted of KTM born elites who were also favored by the rulers. Who do you think have been the biggest land owners in nayaa muluk and places like Chitwan? Mostly those with Hukum Pramangi descending down from the valley. And yes, as late as 2046, nation's all exports were controlled by 26 families, most, if not all, of them KTM based. Their evasion of tax was legendary.
The fact is corruption runs so high in our nation, it has percolated down from the top to the bottom and permeated our society so badly, that if anyone in CIAA wants to pick up 1000 corrupt who have no connection with the powerful elite in KTM, he can do it convenienty by picking up the likes of shaakhaa adhikrit, and peans. Samples of arrests made by CIAA is not a good sample.
Again, when I criticize KTM-based elites, or Kathmandu's elites, I don't go to descriminate them by birth. When we describe a group of people, we try to seek lowest common denominator to identify them. It will be difficult to say Bhojpur born corrupt and Khotang born corrupt did this or that.In any case, their power is not in Khotang or in KTM.
As for why among elected politicians, KTM people are not featured among corrupts, the main reason is their number. KTM sends slightly above 5% of total electorate, and most of them belong to opposition parties who have rare chance to occupy position of power.
I would rather expect knowledgeable people to go to the root of cause, rather than making superficial inference from selected data.It is a pitfall.I hope it is not a way to vent one's anger caused mainly by inherent subtle regionalism, which is surely a form of intolerance.
|
| kingkong |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 08:26 AM
so?
whats new about it
everybody knows
everybody does
let them make some dough bro
|
| Shaiva |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 08:39 AM
Ask a Jagdish Ghimire-type question, you get a "Babu Ram Bhattarai-style of reply" ;-
|
| sandhyasharma |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 09:35 AM
It is good to hear to everybody's view but here the issue started is not Kathmandu verses non-Kathmandu or who is evading taxes.I think its really a time to start thinking about the attitude .Somebody said that "khayo ta khayo ,bidhesi ko paisa khayo"as if it is not a big deal.I wish media would put much pressure on these issues and people would not take these issues so lightly.Corruption,evading taxes ,loan defaults,stealing other's hopes and dreams are not a things to be proud of.It is high time that everybody give it a thought.
|
| Rastafariya |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 09:43 AM
You Just dont git it!
Them nice nice peopal never take no money. Them nice nice peopal never trick I and I.
Just looka who them is involved?
Them nice nice peopal have friends and families in high palaces. Thru da ages them have their Ministers and Judges to save them. What them you mean media needs to put pressure? Like them nice nice peopal do it at night? Them have no fear shame or guilt them never had.
It Just runs in them blood. That why them have only family members in da organisation which is not them new. Them had family members thru da generasion.
Sorry them can no change.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 03:59 PM
Biswo,
Looks like you misread me.
My question above -- and, mind you, NOT my conclusion (and hence the emphasis on formal testing) -- was something different.
I asked, and you can go back and check: "Why is it that [in the last 10-12 years] bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs born outside of Kathmandu are, all things being equal, more likely to be publicly accused of indulging in corruption [in Nepal]?"
In other words, to use your example, why is it that people like Rohini Thapaliya and
Sher Bdr's in-laws -- assuming that they too can shown to be verifiably corrupt -- do
NOT make the kind of news that the likes of, say, Dr. Sharma from Dhankuta do?
Why is that?
That's my question.
Specifically, what I am interested to know is:
Are the KTM-based media (most of which, BTW, are owned by out-of-KTM-wallahs) inherently biased against those born outside of KTM? In other words, when those from outside the valley are knocked off the pedestal in Kathmandu, are the KTM-based
media harsher on them?
Or, are these so-called corrupt ones just, let's say, plain stupid . . . the ones who just don't know how to cover their tracks, like their, as per your saying so, clever and more experienced Kathmandu-bred counterparts?
Or what?
I ask these questions because I find it intriguing/interesting that while that increasingly amorphous and diluted entity called "Kathmandu ka elites" gets the blame for all kinds of corruption and sins and mistakes in Nepal, it's the CONCRETE stories like those of Dr. Sharma-from-Dhankuta that get played in the Nepali press, again and again.
Surely, there's a disconnection there. And that's what I find puzzling, and am trying to understand.
***********
I also find it puzzling that for all its talks against corruption, the Nepali Congress welcomed back people like Khum Bdr and Govinda Raj Joshi into their ranks. Perhaps
I am missing something here.
oohi
"verifiably NEVER a beneficiary of any act of corruption so far in Nepal"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 28-Mar-04 06:59 PM
>I asked, and you can go back and
> check: "Why is it that [in the last
> 10-12 years] bureaucrats, politicians
> and NGO-wallahs born outside of Kathmandu
> are, all things being equal, more likely to be
> publicly accused of indulging in corruption [in Nepal]?"
Ashu, you had not asked only this question. You had quite a few observations and questions before this question, for example: you asked in your first paragraph " Why is it that most people (bureaucrats, politicians and NGO-wallahs) who have been accused of corruption in Nepal tend to be people who have taken up residence in Kathmandu (i.e. come to Kathmandu from other parts of Nepal) in the last 10 to 20 to 30 years" My counter examples were meant to illustrate that most of the people accused of corruptions, in deed very high level corruptions, are not only people from mofussils, but the locals and powerful ones. They may , in fact, be proportionately high in number.
Those who were in KTM more than 30 years ago are more likely to have at least some land there. And A house. Renting the house alone fetches you a handsome amount of money that reduces the lucrativeness of the job of shaakhaa adhikrit who may be posted to far flung Rukum. Thereby a lot of Kathmanduites have no financial incentive to work as shaakhaa adhikrit which used to be the first stepping stone in our nijaamati hierarchy.
I suggest you to help us find some data on how many raithaane Kathmanduites have actually joined the Nijamati Karmachari thing. I bet it would be negligible.
So, if Akhtiyaar choose to go and catch some little fishes from karmachaari barga, who do you think is more likely to be in the net?
As for press coverage, I don't think any press wallah has courage to go after the likes of Mohan Bahadur Singh or some big shot Shahs or powerful Ranas. Sorry for this affront, patrakaar sajhaite readers! For example, when Pashupati Shamsher was a minister, he publicly declared his property which, according to some grumbling historians, omitted quite a few things, most notably detail about where the money (10 million pound per year) that English gave Nepal(thus his father/grandfather) each year for helping them in world war and supplying Gurkhas. No answer from Pashupati Raja. Jogmehar Shrestha, a Kathmandu's own politician, and Bimal Man Singh were often pointed finger, when they were powerful, in several cases.(My villagers always grumbled about 100 bighaa plot sardaar Singh squatted over there!) There is no patrakaar who seems to have courage to press case against Bank loan defaulters (Piyush Bdr Amatya's loans were astronomical and his case was raised last year though), to check the account of Soaltee group etc. also. So, when we try to test something, it doesn't make sense to test based on a very biased sample.
>In other words, to use your example, why
>is it that people like Rohini Thapaliya and
>Sher Bdr's in-laws -- assuming that they
> too can shown to be verifiably corrupt --
>do NOT make the kind of news that the likes
>of, say, Dr. Sharma from Dhankuta do?
Verifiably corrupt?
OK, who has been verified as corrupt besides Hem Bahadur Malla and Bilol Pokharel in our country? I don't know.
Nir Shah once in his interview said his family was very poor in his childhood, and that he used to wake up next to cowshed. It seems that after his stint at NTV, he suddenly had enough money to start a Shangrila channel and live comfortably.
Journalists won't follow Mr Shah or other powerfuls in KTM. They follow easy cases. Have CIAA shown any interest to see how arm deals were done? No. Too big fishes these people are.
And let me draw your attention to your posting about 3 years ago. After ambassador Nobel Kishore Rai came back from Germany, he was embroiled in this nasty case against him in media about unpaid bill back in Europe. And you wrote in Sajha that it was more likely that a man , a janajaati from outside KTM, is more likely to be tortured in media than a Bahun, chhetri, Shah, Rana from KTM.
Hence I believe you know the reason , very well, why a man from outside is more likely to get bad coverage than an insider.
Finally, I don't think the argument about 'corruption virus' was a scientific argument as I believe nothing called 'corruption virus' exists/have been detected yet. As for Khum Bdr and Govinda Raj Joshi's punaraagaman, it just proves that it is otiose to pin our hope, if some of us have actually had that, on any particular party. We need to push for the system/the institutes. A system of transparency and democracy. If there is a lack of proper check and balance, NC/UML can be as bad as the king or the Maoists when it comes to misusing power and people's money.
|
