“We enquired all domestic internet service providers (ISPs), but unfortunately we found that the company was not using their service, but relying on overseas service providers,” said a government source. [break]
While officials noted that it could be an indication of the international linkages of the company, they added that the problem has prevented them from tracing out and gaining control over the crucial details of the company.
The investigators noted that Unity saga has also exposed serious weaknesses in the capacity of frontline regulators like Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and Insurance Board (IB) in upholding financial laws and protecting general interests of the commoners.
Worse still, facts surrounding Unity, which reveals that the regulators were already aware of the illicit operations of the company back in 2008 and still neither did anything to inform people about them nor initiated actions against them, even raised questions over the intentions and credibility of the top officials in those institutions.
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey too said that the Unity saga inflated to the present scale due to inaction of key regulatory entities like NRB and IB.
“We failed because our regulators supposed to provide feedback on affairs going on in the market showed serious lapses,” he told myrepublica.com on Wednesday.
In this connection, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday issued serious instructions to the NRB to clean up the mess in the central bank and step up its vigilance and promptness.
Continued apathy of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) and its Department of Commerce, entrusted to uphold consumers´ rights and protect their interests, toward the issue is also noteworthy.
MoF has further made it clear to the top Ministry of Homes officials to be ready to file cases of forgery against the company.
“Our investigation has already proved that the company was operating banking services without NRB´s approval, insurance deals without IB´s license and flouted co-operatives norms as well. These are enough grounds to file the case against the company,” said the source.
If the government took action against the company on charges of forgery, it can slap a fine worth three-fold of the amount it collected from the consumers, which is estimated at Rs 6 billion.
Meanwhile, leaders of different political parties, including those in the government, have exerted severe pressures on the ministers and top bureaucrats not to take actions against Unity, which is not only illegal but also financially unviable.
Pandey said that the government was serious at protecting the money of the general clients as well, and hence, has frozen the bank accounts and properties of the company. “Our directives to restrict overseas travel of Unity promoters´ is also aimed at the same purpose,” he said.
Minister Pandey also vented ire over leaders of Unity issuing two-day ultimatum to the government to withdraw action against the company and release their officials from police remand.
Organizing a mass meet, Unity leaders on Tuesday had issued such ultimatum.
“It is too much that thugs are warning to take out protest rallies against the government,” he aid. He even urged the people not to fall into the words and dreams of network marketing companies.
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