The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) employees’ unions admitted on Wednesday that the corporation had distributed Rs 17.28 million worth of bonuses to staff from profits earned in the fiscal year 2008-09.

Issuing a joint press statement, three unions (the NOC Independent Employees’ Union, the Nepal National Employees’ Union of NOC and the NOC Employees Association) said that the NOC’s board had approved the decision to distribute the bonuses on Aug 4. Devi Prasad Neupane, president of the NOC Employees’ Association, said that the distribution was officially permitted and that the corporation had paid Rs 5.76 million to the government as a tax for the bonuses.

The unions have threatened to launch an agitation if the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) does not release its officials respectfully. The unions said that the “bonus row” was a ploy to damage the NOC’s reputation, in order to break the oil monopoly of the NOC.

The CIAA on Tuesday arrested four top officials of the NOC, including acting Managing Director Suresh Kumar Agrawal, on charges of distributing bonuses to staff in the debt-ridden oil monopoly. A special team of the anti-graft body arrested Agrawal, Director Nagendra Shah and Managers Kamal Prasad Sharma and Netra Prasad Kafle from the NOC’s Baharmahal-based headquarters. The CIAA action followed media reports that said the officials distributed bonuses even as the institution is reeling under a severe financial crisis.

In August 2010, the NOC had decided to distribute Rs 198.8 million as bonus among its employees for the fiscal year 2008-09 from its “profit” of Rs 3.31 billion. However, the CIAA had then intervened and said that the act does not allow the distribution of bonuses in institutions that are in huge debt and facing a massive cumulative loss.

Currently, the NOC owes the government and different financial institutions a whopping Rs 28.50 billion. The government alone has lent more than Rs 12.50 billion to the cash-strapped institution. Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Depot of the NOC has halted its transaction in protest against the arrest of its four top officials. Employees of the Eastern Regional Office and office-bearers of different trade unions demanded the immediate release of all the arrested employees.

They also warned of halting the distribution of the petroleum products completely at the depot until the release of arrested employees. The petroleum products are being distributed to 16 districts of the eastern region from the depot. There are around 200 petrol pumps in the eastern region.

Published on: 26 September 2013 | The Kathmandu Post