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capital flight probe
- One more firm under scanner
KATHMANDU, FEB 07 -
Officials investigating the multi-million dollar capital flight scam are probing yet another firm, New Tina Enterprises, for alleged siphoning of foreign currency.
The probe team found that the firm had transacted US$14 million since April 2009. It had issued TT/draft from Himalayan Bank Limited for importing Chinese goods from Tibet under the credit import facility provided to importers to bring goods through Tatopani customs point, according to a source.
Officials said the whereabouts of its proprietor Lal Bahadur Gurung is unknown.
Earlier, New Dahal Business Enterprise was implicated in the capital flight scam worth Rs. 3 billion.
The Department of Revenue Investigation arrested Narayan Poudel, an accomplice of Padam Bahadur Raut, the proprietor of New Dahal Business Enterprise. But Raut is still at large.
It has been found that both the firms are based in Samakhusi-29 of Kathmandu and had registered with the Department of Commerce at around the same time.
According to an NRB official, both of them got TT/draft worth around US$49,000 issued for each consignment they made. “Normally, genuine firms get TT/draft worth around US$ 12,000 to US$ 20,000 issued for each consignment.”
Another interesting fact, according to the source, is that the money sent by both firms was deposited in HSBC Bank in Hong Kong. An investigating official suspected possible involvement of “a person in high place” in siphoning off money from the country. HSBC has strict anti-laundering rules and its screening procedure for huge depositors is very strict.
“We may seek help from HSBC to find out the truth,” said the official. The source said the firms might have got credit import facility from more than one bank.
NRB has already directed all the banks to submit documents related to the credit import facilities they issued before Feb. 10. “We will compare them with the documents obtained from Tatopani customs to find out the truth,” said the source.
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