In a statement sent to myrepublica.com, then Royal Palace Principal Press Secretary Dr Phani Raj Pathak* said no amount has ever been transferred to any bank anywhere outside the country. [break]
The statement said that the transfer of 108,854 Pounds Sterling to a British bank as claimed by the Nepal Trust Office (NTO) and reported by this newspaper was in fact a payment made to a British company against purchases made by the late royal couple -- king Birendra and queen Aishwarya. “It was an obligation and duty of the palace to clear the bills for purchases,” said the statement.
Talking to myrepublica.com, Dr Pathak said the payment was made after the British company inquired about the dues following the deaths of the members of the royal family. "It was then that the former king told us to clear the dues from money belonging to the former royalty".
Republica in its June 30 edition had reported, quoting NTO officials, that Gyanendra had transferred over Rs 10 million from Standard Chartered Bank in Kathmandu to the UK-based bank on March 12, 2003.
Former king Gyanendra, shortly after assuming the throne following the royal massacre in June 2001, had initially kept all the funds belonging to the late King Birendra and his family in a time-deposit account at Standard Chartered Bank in Kathmandu in the name of the then royal palace.
The money has now come under the scanner of the NTO, a government body responsible for identifying and looking after royal properties.
Gyanendra, addressing a press conference at the palace on June 11, 2008, had said that he had not transferred any amount to a foreign bank, nor did he have any property abroad.
"I have also heard false rumors about allegations that I have property abroad. All my property is in Nepal. I have no movable or immovable property in foreign lands," he had said.
"The property which had been bequeathed to me from my ancestors, according to Nepalese laws, is also not in my name and I have institutionalized it maintaining that property and have only conserved it. During the last seven years neither have I added to any property nor have I taken any actions by which the traditional property of any members of the Royal family has been diminished," he had further said.
Gyanendra’s bank account frozen
Talking to myrepublica.com, Dr Pathak complained that the government has unjustly frozen the former king’s personal bank account at Himalayan Bank. "When the former king left the palace we thought his personal bank account would remain with him, but the government has for no reason frozen it." The law enacted after the country was declared a republic says the former king will be allowed to enjoy his private property.
* (Corrected)
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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