Nepal’s e-bidding hack probe widens over tender-fraud allegations
Nepal’s police bureau is investigating whether more contractors paid a hacker to manipulate public tenders.
Republica/myRepublica reports that Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau has opened a second-phase probe into allegations that contractors colluded with government employee Diwakar Deuja to manipulate the Public Procurement Monitoring Office’s e-bidding system. The government’s online bidding system has been shut since Aug. 27 after investigators found the system was taken over and confidential information exposed, according to the outlet. In the first phase, CIB filed a case against 13 people at Kathmandu District Court in April, including former minister and Kalika Construction owner Bikram Pandey. Republica says Deuja remains in custody pending trial, while the other accused are out on bail and the cases are sub judice. CIB found Deuja accessed 313 tenders and allegedly manipulated 27 projects for 16 contractors; the new probe has so far found alleged collusion tied to about 25 more projects. Republica also reports investigators found Deuja received commissions from contractors in cryptocurrency.
Why it matters: For DMV Nepalis and anyone building with Nepal, procurement trust is not abstract: government contracts and infrastructure projects depend on systems people believe are fair. This case sits right at the messy intersection of governance, cybersecurity, and money.
Sources
This post summarizes reporting by the outlets above; read them for the full story. Fact-checked against the sources before publishing. Corrections: ashik@ashik.ai
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