The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has raided the Office of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON).
The CIAA has taken control of all the documents of companies in the pipeline for initial public offerings (IPO) issuance from the Board.
Deputy Spokesperson of the Board, Tolakant Neupane, informed Nepalkhabar that a CIAA team arrived at the Board and took control of the documents submitted for IPO issuance approval.
"The CIAA team has taken documents of 89 companies, including 33 hydropower projects, that were in the pipeline," Neupane told Nepalkhabar.
The CIAA team reached the Board on Wednesday afternoon.
For a long time, the Board had been delaying IPO issuance approvals. In this regard, Nepalkhabar had published reports on Sunday and Tuesday alleging that Board Chairman Santosh Narayan Shrestha had demanded a commission of 5 to 7 percent in kickbacks through intermediaries from hydropower companies.
Hydropower companies had lodged a complaint at the CIAA on Sunday, stating that they were being asked for commissions. On Tuesday, they had held discussions with the Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal (IPPAN) and decided to formally seek clarification from the Board.
.
