- Over Rs 8bn capital flight to Hong Kong
- Probe traces firms involved in capital flight
- Arrest in capital flight scam
- Arrest warrant against Raut
Officials close to the investigation told myrepublica.com that the figure could rise as they are investing several firms that could have transferred up to US$ 176 million to HK-based banks. [break]
Investigations so far have revealed that US$ 30.5 million was swift-transferred from Himalayan Bank Limited and US$ 27.6 million from Nepal Investment Bank.
Of the amount, New Dahal Business Enterprise transferred US$ 33.1 million and New Tina Enterprises transferred US$ 25 million.
The transfers were made to seven Hong Kong-based banks including Agriculture Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of India, China Merchant Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Shenzhen Development Bank, Bank of Ningbo and Hang Seng Bank Limited.
"Based on the nature of the fraud and similarity of techniques adopted, we suspect a close link between the two firms and the mastermind behind these two firms could be the same person," said an official investigating the scam.
Second arrest warrant
Intensifying its actions, the Department of Revenue Investigation, which is leading the investigation, has issued a second arrest warrant against Lal Bahadur Gurung, proprietor of New Tina Enterprises, one of the two firms that have been confirmed to be misusing the foreign currency. "The central bank has also frozen all bank accounts owned by the firm and Gurung," said officials.
Investigators have also traced suspected transfer of US$ 350,000 from Bank of Kathmandu by New Tina Enterprises. "Though we have collected initial evidence, we need more time to confirm illegal transfer," said an official in the investigation.
Investigation focuses on huge transactions
The investigators have now focused on transactions involving heavy amounts close to the limit imposed on credit trading. "We expect the total amount of capital flight will rise as we start investigating transactions of lower amounts", said the official.
The government has permitted import of goods worth up to US$ 50,000 from Tibet under credit trading, a facility allowing importers to pay after receiving goods from Tibet but requiring them to submit cash guarantees equivalent to 10 percent of import value before the imports are made and to produce proof of entry of the goods into country before paying the exporters via the banks.
Poudel involved in scam
Investigating officers, meanwhile, have gathered evidence to establish that Narayan Poudel, who was detained by the department on Wednesday, was directly involved in the activities of New Dahal Business Enterprise.
Earlier, Poudel had denied any hand in the scam. We have traced a number of bank transactions in which a large amount of money was transferred to the firm´s account from his personal account. Likewise, there were also a number of instances of huge cash deposits from unknown sources into his account, said the official.
prem@myrepublica.com
Related story
Lending slows as banks focus on recovery of loans at fiscal yea...
