Arrest warrants have been issued against Bharat Kumar Shakya, general manager of Casino Nepal; Ram Krishna Chakradhar, general manager of Anna Casino; Harka Bahadur Ayer, general manager of Shangrila and Manoj Subedi, general manager of Casino Tara.[break]
“We issued the arrest warrants and formally requested Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK) to nab the people, who dared to make a mockery of country´s tax laws, and hand them over to us,” said Mahesh Dahal, director general of DRI, on Friday.
NRC manages five casinos, including the four against which DRI is preparing to land axe.
Everest Casino - the fifth casino operated by NRC - has its tax accounts clear. However, Casino Nepal, Anna and Shangrila along with NRC had neither settled their due tax liability, nor responded to DRI´s summons to be present at the office to furnish the details of their past liabilities and payment plan.
DRI´s records show Casino Nepal´s outstanding royalty to the tune of Rs 99.3 million, while Anna has Rs 82.3 million and Shangrila has Rs 24.2 million.
A senior official at the MPRK said that they have already received the arrest warrant and will respond to it promptly.
“We have information of whereabouts of the people against whom the arrest warrants have been issued. We will nab them and hand them over to DRI for further action soon,” said Ramesh Kharel, superintendent of police and the chief of Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu.
Although Casino Tara responded to DRI´s summon, it had not fulfilled its commitment to settle the due tax liability. However, on Friday it cleared its outstanding liability accrued as of last fiscal year.
“The casino paid Rs 6.8 million today. It has no outstanding tax liability now,” Dahal told Republica. However, he did not elaborate on the arrest warrant issued against its general manager.
The department had summoned all casino managers and their operators, including NRC, to submit their outstanding royalty and other tax liability and clear their dues immediately.
However, only seven of 10 casinos operating in the country had responded to its call and among them only six had paid their dues.
Of them, casino Venus (Malla Hotel), Rad (Radisson) and Pokhara Grand had settled all their outstanding dues till the last fiscal year. Royal (Yak and Yeti) and Fulbari, on the other hand had paid only partially.
CASINO TOLD TO VACATE HOTEL SHANGRILA
District Administration Office Kathmandu on Friday instructed Nepal Police to vacate Shangrila Casino from its existing premises at Hotel Shangrila.
The instruction was issued as per the request of the hotel promoter. Shyam Bahadur Pandey, the promoter of the hotel, this week had formally lodged an application at the DAO, requesting the latter to remove the casino.
Pandey made such request as NRC had not been paying the rent due to the hotel.
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