One billion corruption: There was a rush to register phones in MDMS

A case was filed in a special court on Thursday against 19 individuals and 2 companies, including the former chairman of the authority, Digambar Jha and Purushottam Khanal, and 2 companies. According to Authority Spokesperson Narahari Ghimire, in this case, the indictment has been filed in the court against the defendant to recover damages, imprisonment and fines as well as expenses incurred from illegal contracts.

Among the defendants, the then presidents Jha and Khanal, along with deputy director Mishra, are also under investigation in the purchase of equipment worth about 3.5 billion to install Terramax technology for the authority. The authority has also said that the investigation of the Teramox case has been completed and a decision will be taken soon.

The authority decided to implement the MDMS system in order to control the mobile phones imported illegally from abroad and keep the details of the imported phones correct in the government records. For this, on October 10, 2074, the authority submitted a report along with the draft MDMS and prepared the basis for the purchase agreement. In the same year, on January 26, the proposal for the procurement process was submitted, and on May 10, 2075, the authority board meeting decided to proceed with the procurement contract.

On May 28, it has been found that the then president Jha manipulated to get the companies he favored to join when a letter of approval was requested for this. When the agreement was reached, Khanal had already become the chairman.

Telecommunication technology experts planned to develop and implement software with the participation of 13 people, including 6 foreign and 7 local people, and data processing. The commission is of the opinion that the staff and officials of the authority have kept the cost estimate of support service connectivity and software at 111 million 76 thousand 73 dollars in the estimated cost of 4 lakh 3 thousand 448 US dollars.

The authority has accused the government of violating the provisions of public procurement, maintaining high prices, entering into an agreement so that the details related to the personal privacy of citizens remain under the control of foreign companies, colluding within standards to limit competition. The authority also found the defendant guilty for making the same criteria for the purchase of goods and consulting services.

The authority has called the purchase agreement made by the authority to have access to the data bank related to the mobile details and the personal details of citizens, not only a corruption offense, but also contrary to the laws of the Constitution (Article 28), the Supreme Court's mandate, and the Personal Privacy Act 2075. In a writ filed by journalist Taranath Dahal and lawyers Baburam Aryal, Tankraj Aryal and Santosh Sigdel, demanding that citizens' phone calls and messages be misused, the joint bench of the then Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha and Judge Devendra Gopal Shrestha issued an order on 21st January 2072, prohibiting anyone from violating the law. It was decided not to give unlimited access to the details.

In the purchase case, former chairman of the authority Jha and Khanal along with senior director Anandraj Khanal, deputy director Meenprasad Aryal and Surendralal Hada, director Dipesh Acharya, assistant directors Vinodchandra Shrestha, Sandeep Adhikari, Suryaprasad Lamichhane, Revathiram Panth, Pratishka Poudel, Neerajan Koirala and Vijaykumar Rai Yadav and Deputy Director Achutanand Mishra has been found guilty. In the MDMS case, two companies from Malaysia and Singapore namely Numera (M) Sdn. Bhd and Namaste Global Com Pvt Ltd and their directors/representatives have also been made defendants.

The authority charged the two companies along with their representatives Malaysian nationals Datuk Mohd Noor Amin alias Mohd Noor Amin bin Mohd Noor Khan, Datuk Mohd Sihab aka Mohd Sihab bin Kunhi Mohd, Indian nationals Anuj Singh aka Anuj Singh X, Jamil Ahmad and Kavindraraj Malla. In the case of purchase, the accused has been made a defendant and demanded the same punishment as the main accused. Malaysian nationals were involved in negotiations and agreements with authority officials to award the MDMS contract. Indian citizens Anuj and Jamil were working in Nepal as representatives of foreign companies.

In order to implement the connected system through the equipment bought at a high price in collusion, the authority issued a public notice on August 30, 2079 and informed that mobiles not registered in MDMS must not be used. In order to discourage the illegal import, sale, distribution and use of mobile sets and further manage them, the authority issued a notice for the second time that it will be fully implemented from 15th January 2019 if it is implemented as a test for tracking/blocking stolen and lost mobile sets.

Even after that, the authority has asked the consumers to come to the register by asking them repeatedly to implement the system. Later, after the authority started a detailed investigation into the crime of irregularity in the procurement case, the authority withdrew from its own decision. According to research sources, it has been found that officials/employees and middlemen of the authority have acted hastily in the implementation of MDSS with the intention of misappropriating the funds by using the equipments purchased fraudulently.

Defendant Khanal, who is also the outgoing chairman of the authority, has claimed that he has no bad faith, saying that the purchase agreement was made based on the report/opinion of the expert and technical evaluation committee in the procurement process. He also insists that the purchase court's order is not adverse.

The then director of the authority, Anandraj Khanal, said that the person responsible for the procurement process was Chairman Khanal and claimed that his decision was not final. "The chairman himself has experience as a procurement expert in matters such as preparing procurement regulations and frameworks, and because of the specialized structure of procurement unit procurement, my decisions are not final and the overall study of this system can be conducted so that we can choose a consultant with the same qualification, ability, experience and reliability. That is why the cost estimate has been prepared and submitted to the chairman,' said Director Khanal in his statement to the authority.

In the contract awarded by the authority to the Singapore and Malaysian company in a joint venture, Mishra, Adhikari, Lamichhane and Paudel on behalf of the authority and Datuk and Anuj on behalf of the contractor company Numera JV signed an agreement for 7 million 66 thousand 888 US dollars on 19 June 2076. Another respondent Malla signed as a representative of Nepal as a consultant of Numera and Namaste.

It has been mentioned that the payment schedule cannot be amended when making a lump sum performance agreement and the opinion of the public procurement experts and the public procurement monitoring office cannot be amended. The authority has interpreted this as an illegal and corrupt purchase.

What is the MDMS system? MDMS system has been implemented to prevent unauthorized importation of

mobile phones. The IMEI number of the mobile is stored in the MDMS software. It has separate interfaces for mobile importers, customs offices, law enforcement agencies, mobile operators, authorities and general public.

Based on the IMEI number, mobile registration, white, gray and blacklists are used to block stolen or illegally imported and sold phones. This system is linked with the Equipment Identity Register (EIR). EIR keeps the data of legal and illegal mobile devices in the country.

MDMS system has been introduced for online registration purposes of IMEI, ESN, MEID number of mobile devices in use in Nepal.

It is used to detect mobile devices when necessary and to terminate services of unauthorized sets. Phones coming to Nepal must be registered in MDMS. If you don't register, you can't call, pick up and use the internet.

Passengers returning from abroad do not need to inform the customs office about the mobile phone they are using according to the Order on Goods for Private Use, 077 that passengers can bring and take with them. Individuals can register themselves in the MDMS system of such telephone authority through online means. Passengers are allowed to bring a maximum of two mobile sets when coming from abroad. If you bring more than that, the mobile set brought from abroad should be registered in MDMS by the concerned person.

Businessmen should register the IMEI number from the importers portal of the MDMS system before importing the phone. If the IMEI number sent by the importer matches with the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) number, the authority sends a No Objection Letter to the customs office. Customs allows entry into Nepal only after entering the mobile device and IMEI number. Phone users who have entered in this way do not need to register the IMEI number again after purchasing.

Foreign tourists using roaming services do not need to register their MDMS number in Nepal. However, if he wants to use a Nepali SIM card, registration is required.