After raid, Dabur Nepal chief summoned for questioning

KATHMANDU - A state vigilance agency that raided Indian multinational Dabur Indias independent group company in Nepal, following complaints of irregularity, has now summoned the chief of the raided firm for questioning.

Udayan Ganguly, chief executive officer of Dabur Nepal, as well as production head Indranil Gupta have been asked to appear before the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for questioning.

CIAA joint attorney Sameer Silwal said Ganguly and Gupta would have to appear for questioning by Friday. Silwal had led the raid into Dabur Nepals storehouse in southern Nepals Bara district earlier this month and sealed about 74,000 cartons of its Real brand of fruit juices as these were found stamped January manufacturing dates.

They were sent letters last Thursday, asking them to present themselves before the commission for questioning within a week, Silwal told IANS. If they fail to appear by Friday, we will take action against them as per law.

Though the Dabur storehosue was raided Dec 20 and samples of its fruit juices carted away for laboratory examinations, almost 10 days later there was little information on how the investigation was progressing.

The raid occurred within three days of a consumers group filing a complaint against Dabur Nepal, one of the biggest companies in Nepal and the largest exporter.

The same vigilance agency that raided Dabur Nepal, however, is yet to take any action against people suspected nine months ago of involvement in a corrupt deal to buy armoured carriers for Nepals security forces engaged in UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan.

The carriers were found to be substandard and cost the state a loss of millions of rupees. Though a parliamentary committee asked for action against the then ministers involved in the corrupt purchase, the investigation has not shown any result so far.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)