KATHMANDU, March 12: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has refused to reimburse the millions in expenditure incurred by Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal´s entourage to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ministry officials declined to release Rs 10 million, as demanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), for lack of official bills with the exact amounts of expenditure.
Despite widespread criticism, PM Nepal had led a 32-member jumbo team to the UN conference held from December 6 to 18, 2009. Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Deepak Bohora had also led a 57-member team, sponsored by various donors, to Copenhagen.
"We have asked MoFA to submit all the bills and details as evidence before we can release the amount," sources at MoF told Republica.
MoF officials declined the request of MoFA as the latter only mentioned "estimated costs" without furnishing the original bills.
"We can´t release the amount just on the basis of "estimated cost" without receiving the original bills," said the source.
The officials say MoFA should have sent the exact amount of expenditures immediately after the completion of the summit, but they received the same estimated amount submitted to the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers by MoFA before the entourage left for Copenhagen.
The estimated expenditures include accommodation, food, trips to various places and gifts to foreigners. "But more surprising was the fact that they presented airfares also under estimated expenses," said an official.
The source said they are expecting MoFA´s reply very soon. "We hear that MoFA is sending its expenditure details very soon," said the official, "We will decide whether to release the amount after assessing MoFA´s documents."
Prime Minister Nepal was accompanied by a few Constituent Assembly (CA) members, political party leaders and journalists.
While Bohora´s team was sponsored by various donors, PM Nepal had to manage the expenditures from taxpayers´ money.
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