काठमाडौं, १८ मंंसिर । नेपाल वायुसेवा निगमले एअरबस निर्मित दुई वटा ३३० २०० सेरिजका वाइडबडीका जहाज खरिद गर्दा भ्रष्टाचारको आरोपमा मुद्धा खेपिरहेका कर्मचारीहरु अब उम्किन नसक्ने भएका छन् । यसको खरिदमा प्रस्ताव हाल्ने अमेरिकी कम्पनीका तात्कालीन कर्मचारी दीपक शर्माले २५ लाख डलर नेपाली अधिकारीहरुलाई घुस दिएको पुष्टी अमेरिकी संघीय कानुन फरेन करप्ट प्राक्टिसेस एक्ट अन्तरगत गरिएको एक अनुसन्धानमा हुन गएको छ । ंएएआर कम्पनीका नेपाली मूलका बेलायती व्यवसायी दीपक शर्मालाई एफसीपीएले यसमा दोषी ठहर गरेको छ ।
वायुसेवा निगमको दुई थान ‘ए३३०–२००’ सिरिजका वाइड बडी जहाज खरिद–बिक्री प्रक्रियामा शर्मालाई ‘एजेन्ट’ का रूपमा प्रयोग गरिएको थियो ।
निगमलाई अमेरिकी कम्पनी एएआर कर्पोरेसनले दुई थान वाइड बडी जहाज बिक्री गरेको थियो । त्यसका लागि निगमले २४ अर्ब रुपैयाँ भुक्तानी गरेको थियो ।
एएआर जहाज खरिद–बिक्री, भाडामा दिने अमेरिकी कम्पनी हो । निगमले युरोपेली जहाज निर्माता कम्पनी एयरबसमा हाईफाई एअर वेज पोर्चुगलबाट अर्डर गरेको जहाज एएआर कम्पनीमार्फत किन्ने चाँजोपाँजो मिलाएको थियो । घुख र कमिशन खानकै लागि सिधै निर्मातासंग नकिनेर बिचौलिया कम्पनीहरुमार्फत खरिद गरेको थियो ।
अमेरिकी कम्पनी एएआरले शर्मा एएआर अन्तर्गतको इन्टिग्रेटेड सोलुसन्सका पूर्वअध्यक्ष पनि भएको र अहिले उनी एयरक्राफ्ट फाइनान्स जर्मनीमा कार्यरत भएको जनाउदै यसमा कम्पनी दोषी नभएको र व्यक्तिगत रुपमा शर्मा दोषी भएको जानकारी दिएको थियो ।
एएआरको हालै प्रकाशित वार्षिक प्रतिवेदनमा वायुसेवा निगमको वाइड बडी जहाज खरिद प्रकरणमा घुस लेनदेन भएको एफसीपीएको अनुसन्धान खुलासा भएको थियो
‘शर्मा र उनको टोलीले नेपाल वायुसेवा निगमलाई जहाज बेच्न नेपाली तथा विदेशी सरकारी अधिकारीहरूलाई घुस खुवाएको र तीमध्ये वायुसेवा निगममा सन् २०१५ देखि २०१९ सम्म उच्च तहमा बसेका एक अधिकारी पनि थिए,’ एफसीपीएले अनुसन्धान प्रतिवेदनमा भनेको छ, ‘जसबाट दुई थान ए३३०–२०० जहाज बेच्ने टेन्डर जित्न मद्दत पुगेको थियो ।’
नेपाली सरकारी अधिकारीहरूलाई घुस खुवाउन शर्मा र उनको टोलीले अमेरिका, आयरल्यान्ड, युनाइटेड अरब इमिरेट्स (यूएई) लगायत देशमा बैंक खाता खोलेको प्रतिवेदनमा उल्लेख छ ।
विभिन्न देशमा बैंक खाता खोली निगमले पठाएको रकम स्थानान्तरण गरी करिब २५ लाख अमेरिकी डलर बराबर रकम नेपाली सरकारी अधिकारीहरू र विदेशी सरकारी अधिकारीहरूलाई घुस खुवाउन शर्माले मध्यस्थता गरेको एफसीपीएले आफ्नो प्रतिवेदनमा उल्लेख गरेको छ ।
अमेरिकी संघीय सरकार अन्तरगतको भ्रष्टाचार अनुसन्धान गर्ने निकायले नै नेपालको जहाज खरिदमा २५ लाख डलर घुस ख्वाएको कुरा उल्लेख गरेकोले यो खरिदमा भ्रष्टाचार भएको ठहर गरी मुद्दा खेपिरहेका निगमका कर्मचारी र बिक्री एजेण्टहरु अब उम्किन कठिन भएको छ ।
Individual Pleads Guilty To A Bribery Scheme Involving Nepal Airlines
August 8, 2024
Last month, Julian Aires (an individual associated with a joint venture partner of AAR Corp. – a U.S. based aviation services company) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with business dealings with South Africa Airways (SAA) as well as a contract involving Swissport and SAA. (See here for the prior post).
It was noted that the enforcement action was likely the first of several related enforcement actions to come as AAR’s recent annual report disclosed FCPA scrutiny in South Africa as well as Nepal.
Sure enough.
Recently, Deepak Sharma (pictured) (a United Kingdom citizen and resident) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with a bribery scheme involving Nepal Airlines Corporation (“NAC”), an alleged instrumentality of the Nepali government.
In charging documents, Sharma is described as an “agent” of Company 1 (a reference to AAR). As highlighted here, Sharma is described as the former President of Integrated Solutions at AAR and appears to be currently associated with Aircraft Finance Germany.
According to the criminal information:
“It was the purpose of the conspiracy for Sharma and his co conspirators to illegally benefit Company 1, Subsidiary 1 [a wholly-owned subsidiary of Company 1], and others by bribing Nepali officials, including Foreign Official 1 [a Nepali citizen who served as a high-level official at NAC from at least approximately 2015 through 2019] in order to win a bid to sell two Airbus A330-200 aircraft to NAC (“NAC Transaction”).”
[…]
Sharma and his co-conspirators made and received wire transfers intended, in part, as bribes for Nepali officials in connection with the NAC Transaction, using bank accounts in the United States, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates, among other places.
Sharma and his co-conspirators attempted to disguise the wire transfers as legitimate business transactions by entering into sham agreements between Subsidiary 2 [a wholly-owned subsidiary of Company 1], Company 2 [an aircraft leasing and trading company based in Germany], and Company 3 [a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Ireland and managed by Company 2] on the one hand, and Companies 4 [a Hong Kong incorporated company used by Intermediary] and 5 [a United Arab Emirates incorporated company used by Intermediary] on the other. Some of the payments were made pursuant to sham invoices sent by Sharma and his co conspirators from Companies 4 and 5 and directed to Company 3. The invoices falsely referred to the bribe payments as “advances.”
According to the criminal information:
“In or around November 2015, Sharma attended a meeting in Nepal with Intermediary [a Nepali citizen engaged by Sharma and others to facilitate bribe payments to foreign officials, including Foreign Official 1] and Foreign Official 1, during which the potential NAC Transaction was discussed. Foreign Official 1 proposed that Sharma, on behalf of Company 1, engage Intermediary as a lobbyist for the potential NAC Transaction, via a company affiliated with, and nominated by, Intermediary.”
According to the Statement of Offense associated with the plea agreement:
“In total, between in or around May and August 2018, Company 3 paid Company 5 the equivalent of approximately $2,500,000 in connection with the NAC Transaction, a portion of which the defendant understood would be distributed as bribes to Nepali officials, including Foreign Official 1.”
