Action against Unity

The government has finally taken stern action against the fraudulent business practices of Unity Life International (ULI), which has been offering social security and banking services without obtaining legal permission. ULI, by its own admission, has brought over six hundred thousand clients under its net and collected over six billion rupees from them, offering them bogus schemes. By seizing ULI’s operations and issuing arrest warrants against its promoters the government has possibly saved hundreds of thousands of other unsuspecting Nepalis who could easily have been lured by ULI’s vicious network.



But it seems that action came too late. Not only are ULI’s clients likely to lose the money they have invested in it, but unfolding facts suggest that ULI’s promoters may have siphoned off the money to another country. The ongoing investigations show that ULI has only about 75 million rupees in its accounts. ULI may have invested some money in infrastructure, but where has the rest of the money gone? It remains a million-dollar question. Sources privy to the investigations say the promoters deposited the cash in their personal accounts as if it was their own money. We will have to wait several days, if not weeks, to learn the complete story of how ULI swindled the public.



Though the government has taken action against Unity, it cannot escape blame for failing to act in time. It should have stopped Unity long ago, after it had mobilized a few hundred thousand rupees and brought under its net just a few hundred people. What prevented the state from stopping Unity is as mysterious as the way this fraudulent company managed to collect and possibly siphon off such a huge amount of money. Unity wasn’t an amorphous or underground company-- it had its head office in a six-storey modern building at Jawalakhel; it was operating hospitals in 17 districts; it had 2,300 staffers and tens of thousands of agent-cum-clients on the ground across the country; and above all, it was paying Value Added Tax on some of the products that it sold.



The regulators, who are supposed to monitor and regulate such businesses, were also aware of Unity’s operations since long ago. In fact the top four regulators-- Nepal Rastra Bank, the Insurance Board, Securities Board Nepal and the Company Registrar’s Office-- two years ago issued a public notice warning people not to buy schemes offered by unauthorized companies. But even then they suspiciously failed to even mention Unity’s name in their statement, let alone take action against such firms. Why didn’t these regulators inform and coordinate with the Finance and Home Ministries to immediately take action against Unity? And how can Finance and Home defend their inaction for so long when such grave financial crime was taking place under their very noses for the last several years. Even after this newspaper published a series of stories about Unity (Republica was the first among broadsheet dailies to publish investigative pieces on Unity) the authorities concerned were slow to respond. Those authorities should apologize to the public for failing to take timely action against Unity and safeguard the public interest.

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