Following the loss of lives and property in landslides and flooding caused by incessant rainfall across the country from September 26 to September 28, Nepali Congress called a meeting of its working committee and parliamentary party and decided to contribute Rs 5 million to the Prime Minister's Natural Disaster Relief Fund.
As per the decision, Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba and other leaders met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on October 6 and handed him a check of Rastriya Banijya Bank for Rs 5 million.
The check was signed by Deuba and NC Chief Secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel.
Even though the 14th general convention of NC was held three years ago, Deuba has yet to nominate a treasurer.
The check handed over to PM Oli by NC was dated October 24. But the check amount has not been deposited to the PM's Natural Disaster Relief Fund yet.
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) has been publishing the details of the amounts accumulated in the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund with daily updates.
It has already published the details of contributions made to the Fund until November 13, but the contributions don’t include the Rs 5 million donated by NC.
When asked where the money had disappeared, NC Chief Secretary Paudel said, "The check was dated October 24, we had given the check itself, ask the Ministry of Home Affairs and other bodies whether they forgot to deposit or what they did."
Under Secretary Manju Sharma Subedi, vice-spokesperson for the OPMCM, said it was likely that the amount donated by NC was not deposited to the Fund as it was not shown in the bank statement.
"After the amount is deposited to the bank account, its details (bank statement) come to us on a daily basis, we publish the same details," she said. “We had also made inquiries after the amount said to have been deposited by Congress was not seen in the details, the bank could not find it even when checking the statement.”
According to Subedi, amounts deposited without disclosing details appear under the “Others” heading in bank statements. According to the details published by the Prime Minister's Natural Disaster Relief Fund on November 12, contributions totaling Rs 4,383,036 appear under the “Others” heading.
