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Dec 9, 2025
Nepal Corruption Claims Involving Chinese Contractors and Suppliers
newKerala.com
Nepal has been witnessing a series of corruption allegations in recent years, particularly in projects involving Chinese contractors or suppliers. The latest controversy concerns the billing system that Nepal Telecom (NT), a company in which the Nepali government holds a majority stake, is preparing to procure.
On March 18 this year, Nepal Telecom invited bids to purchase a new billing system estimated to cost around NPR 5 billion. Of the two Chinese companies that participated, only Huawei was deemed technically qualified. This led to allegations that the specifications had been prepared in a way that only Huawei could meet. Huawei is also handling the core network of Nepal Telecom.
Whale Cloud -- another Chinese firm -- had competed against Huawei for the contract but was disqualified during the technical evaluation.
Although Huawei's financial proposal was scheduled to be opened on September 24, 2025, the process was postponed indefinitely after Jagadish Kharel assumed office as Minister of Communications and Information Technology on September 22, citing special circumstances.
On October 30, the Ministry formed a study committee to investigate the allegations, headed by former government secretary Maniram Gelal, after questions arose over why Huawei was the only bidder to clear the technical evaluation.
On November 20, the committee submitted its report to Minister Kharel. Online Khabar, a popular Nepali news website, reported the same day -- citing sources -- that the bidding documents had been prepared in a way that favoured a specific model of a specific company, referring to Huawei.
"While studying the tender documents and other files regarding Nepal Telecom's billing system, it is clear that the specifications were prepared to suit the equipment of a specific model from a specific company. This has been clearly stated in the report," the website quoted an unnamed Nepal Telecom official as saying.
However, Minister Kharel, while receiving the report,
