INDIA GODFATHER OF NEPAL'S MAOISTS

INDIA GODFATHERED NEPAL’S MAOISTS; US AMBASSADOR REPORT TO STATE DEPARTMENT

Kathmandu, 16 March: A Wikileaks report quoting the US Ambassador to Nepal James Moriarty calls India godfather of Nepal’s Maoists.
The leak will embarrass both India and USA which emerged as Washington’s strategic partner in South Asia.
“New Delhi godfathered the relationship between the Maoists and parties and doesn’t want to admit that it might have created a Frankenstein’s monster,” Moriarty reported to the US State Department.
‘The Danes and Norwegians (who have clout here because of their aid programs) are convinced that lasting peace is just about ready to break out and push the GON to be as accommodating as possible. The Brits seem convinced the Maoists will soon be coming into power and are trying to convince themselves that it might not be so bad.
“The Chinese seem primarily interested in pushing Tibet issues with the weak frequently ineffectual GON. The local World Bank rep is so fed up with the corruption in the system that he has become a frequent lunch pal of the Maoist supreme,” he reported through secret cable.
Moriarty in a September 2006 cable reveals attempt to stop Maoists coming into government.
“I’ve been meeting regularly with the Prime Minister, urging him (so far unsuccessfully) to use the police to enforce law and order and bucking him up to stick to his bottomline of no letting gun-toting Maoists into the government (with greater success so far).”
Moriarty’s predecessor Michael E. Malinowski in a 4 December 2003 cable to Washington says he talked with his Indian counterpart Shyam Saran on possible training of Maoist women fighters in Dehradun.
“Malinowski briefed Saran on unsubstantiated reports that Nepali Maoist women may have received training in Dehradun of northern India.”
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DETAILS OF MAOIST VOLUNTEERS’ BUREAU

Kathmandu, 16 March: Maoist standing committee Netra Bahadur Chanda heads a 10-member body to manage a Peoples Volunteer Bureau announced Tuesday.
Politburo members Shakti Basnet and Devendra Paudel are members.
Other members are: Dilip Prajapati, Uma Bhujel, Ganeshman Pun, Srawan Yadav, Himal Kirati, Jag Prasad Sharma and Raju Khadka who are central committee members.
A campaign will be launched 19 March from the capital.
The bureau members are associated with affiliated student, trade union, women and youth leaders.
The bureau hopes to mobilize a 500,000 force for development work and push pace process and constitution drafting.
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KAPIL GHIMERE APPOINTED ACTING GENERAL MANAGER

Kathmandu, 16 March: Kapil Ghimere has been appointed acting general manager of Gorkhapatra whchpublished Gorkhapatra, the coutry;s oldest newspaper/
Ghimere, deputy general manager, succeeds Bijaya Chalise following takeover of communication ministry by Maoists from UML.
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GOVT. EFFORT TO FIGHT ELEPHANTIATIS





Kathmandu, 16 March: The government has planned to administer medicine against elephantiasis in 10 districts in the first phase on March 26 and 27, The Rising Nepal reports from Nepalgunj.
A campaign will be launched in Siraha, Dhanusha, Saptari, Okhaldhunga, Bhojpur, Dang, Salyan, Rukum, Rolpa and Banke district in the first round against elephantiasis—hypertrophy of certain body parts (usually legs and scrotum).
Medicine will be distributed in 40 districts, which are at high risk of elephantiasis, in near future, said District Public Health Officer Dhirjung Shah.
The campaign will be conducted for the next six years and health workers will visit door-to-door to provide medicine, said Shah.
Discussion programmes have been organised across the country with a view to create awareness to check transmission of elephantiasis and control the number of patients. Around 3,000 people are affected by elephantiasis in the country, said Shah.
It has been estimated that Banke district is at the high risk of elephantiasis as 106 (53 percent) out of 200 sample tests conducted a year ago in Rajhena and Bankatawa VDCs were found infected by the disease.
Around 1.04 billion people are said to be at the high risk of this disease in the world elephantiasis, which is found in 83 countries.
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STRICT CODE FOR JAILS IN PIPELINE

Kathmandu, 16 March: The Home Ministry will soon introduce strict measures banning inmates going out of the jail and curbs on jail visits, The Himalayan Times reports.

The move follows the direction by the parliamentary State Affairs Committee to the ministry to improve security situation in the wake of a shootout in the Central Jail and crimes plotted by Milan Gurung alias Chakre and Tashi Lama from prison.

Earlier, Peshalraj Budhathoki, doing time on fraud charge in Dilli Bazaar Prison, had escaped from the jail on the pretext of going to attend the funeral of his relative in Pashupati Aryaghat on August last year.

“Discussions are on to prepare a report with recommendations that a prisoner will not be allowed to go outside the jail unless he/she is to be admitted to a hospital,” informed the source. “Similarly, the ministry will impose a ban on visits to jailbirds other than their close relatives.

The source said they would also scrap the provision of appointing Naike, Bhai Naike and Chaukidar from among the inmates citing that it had added to the crimes. The jailbirds often enjoy good time outside the jail in their capacity as Naike, Bhai Naike and Chaukidar as per the Prison Management Act.

CHAKRE AIDE ARRESTED

Metropolitan Police Circle Maharajgunj on Tuesday arrested Bijaya Lama Tamang from Chundevi. Bijaya featured on Nepali Police’ most wanted list after he and five other hooligans set fire to a bulldozer rented by Habitat Housing in Dhapasi last month at the direction of Chakre.
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• MONEY
INDIA TOUGHENS TRADE APPROACH
Kathmandu, 16March: India has once again taken a hard-line approach to Nepal as was clearly reflected during the recently concluded trade talks in New Delhi. According to Nepali officials, it is unlikely to soften its approach to Nepal in the near future, Anil Giri reports The Kathmandu Post reports.

Although the joint secretary level meeting on commerce and trade issues (IGSC) did not end on a sour note, officials termed the atmosphere “reminiscent of then King Gyanendra’s direct rule era” when India’s position was hard.

“We are convinced that the Indian side is going to take a hard-line approach after going through its agenda and presentation,” a senior government official who attended the trade talks with India told the Post. The change of guard in Kathmandu seems to have worsened the way India views Nepal, he said, referring to the election of Jhala Nath Khanal as prime minister. “It seems we will hardly get concessions from the Indian side,” the official added. The Indian side also said Nepal was not implementing some of the past commitments.

Apart from bilateral trade issues, the Indian side also raised the issue of non-payment of machine readable passports (MRPs). The Indian side has even categorised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as “non-payers” on MRPs along with three Nepali companies.

India has been claiming US$ 48,000 as reimbursement of the expenses it incurred following the aborted MRP deal signed between the two countries.

“We had sent three requests to the government of Nepal to reimburse the MRP dues, but there was no response,” an Indian official told the meeting.

The Nepali trade team said that the Nepal government had recently approved the dues claimed by state-owned Security Printing and Minting Corporation India Limited (SPMCIL). The head of the Indian delegation, Arvind Mehta, agreed to remove the MoFA from the “nonpayer” list at the request of the Nepali side.

According to the Nepali official who was a member of the trade team, the Indian side proposed to have double seals on Nepali cargo coming via Kolkata port. The Indian team claimed that shipments proceeding to Nepal via Kolkata were being tampered with somewhere in Bihar. “The containers are broken and part of the consignment is sold in Bihar before they reach Nepal,” the Indian side said. The Indian side also blamed Nepal for remaining passive in stopping unauthorised trade. “Stating that one-time locks had been found violated many times, the Indian side proposed putting double seals on Nepali cargo,” said the official. “The earlier practice was to put a single seal.”

As per the Treaty of Transit signed between Nepal and India, Indian customs officers posted at the seaport shall merely check the “one-time lock” of Nepali containerised cargo put by the shipping agent or the carrier authorised by the shipping company. “If found intact, the customs officer shall allow transportation of the containerised cargo without examination, unless there are valid reasons to do otherwise,” says the treaty.

The Indian side also sought Nepal’s clear policy on its joint ventures operating in Nepal. “Mostly, they picked the cases of two Indian companies—UTL and Manipal Medical College, Pokhara—with us,” said the official.

The Indian team claimed that UTL had been made to pay extra charges and barred from expansion since five years ago. “Manipal College, that was supposed to get land in Pokhara, has been barred from buying land; and Pokhara Hospital, a Nepal government undertaking, refused to take its students for medical practice,” said the Indian side. “Pokhara Hospital sought Rs 5.2 million for such facilitation which is against the letter and spirit of its entry agreement in Nepal,” the Indian side reportedly said. The Indian side didn’t give any fresh assurances on Nepal’s request to scrap the duty refund procedure (DRP), but agreed to make a note.

The Indian side had close to 40 items on its agenda for the meeting. “We were not adequately prepared for the meeting where the Indian side gave us a tough time throughout. We played a defensive role rather than making some gains for the country,” the official said.



SOOD TAKE

India’s Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood has complained that Nepal is ‘discriminating’ against Indian companies on public procurement.

He made such comment at the 16th annual general meeting of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) on Tuesday. He, however, did not elaborate details of the ‘discrimination’.

Sood also had several other complaints. “India has graciously given the transit facilities to Nepal as a landlocked country,” he said. “But Nepali businessmen are dumping the third country goods in India by misusing the transit routes.”

Sood was of the view that India has given special privilege to Nepal in transit which no other country has probably offered to their land locked neighbours. Currently, Nepal uses Haldiya and Banglabanda transit routes.

In 2009, India had agreed that Nepal could use its Bisakhapattam Port. The Indian ambassador also accused some Nepali manufacturers of producing goods using brand names similar to those of Indian companies.

“This has created doubt whether Nepal’s legal system is protecting the intellectual property rights,” he said.

Terming the relation between the two countries ‘special’ and ‘unique’, Sood said, “It also means the two countries should bear special responsibilities too and address each others’ concerns.”
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IRD SLAPS RS. 1.35 BILLION IN TAX, FINES ON 20 FIRMS


MILAN MANI SHARMA
KATHMANDU, March 16: In a major move, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has slapped Rs 1.35 billion in tax and fines on 20 firms involved in a fake VAT bill racket, not just evading tax but even claiming refund from the government for VAT that was never paid, Milan Mani Sharma writes in Republica. .

"The first phase of our investigation was completed last week," said Rajan Khanal, director general of IRD, adding that the department has already turned over the completed case files to the tax offices concerned.

Khanal refused to elaborate. However, sources told Republica that DRI unearthed at the 20 firms fake bills showing transactions worth Rs 2 billion. "They have been slapped tax and fines of Rs 1.35 billion," said a source.

Alarmingly, 16 of the firms evading tax belong to the top business houses of the country, said officials. They refused to disclose names, citing ´protection of taxpayers rights´, as provisioned in the Income Tax Act.

Nonetheless, sources said the biggest revenue amount cheated by a business house was Rs 650 million. The second biggest, perpetrated by another group, was calculated at Rs 190 million.

The 16 firms had used fake VAT bills to shield local transactions, thereby evading VAT liability. They had also used the bills to inflate their expenses, thereby squeezing down income tax liability.

On the other hand, the four other firms that have together been slapped tax and fines of Rs 440 million had used fake VAT bills (of procurement) and customs documents (for exports) to get VAT refund, whereas the transactions had never actually taken place.

In all the cases, only VAT bills had exchanged hands, without any movement of goods.

"And because there was no trace of the suppliers, the so-called four exporting firms were planning to siphon away millions of rupees from the national treasury by claiming refunds without having paid a single penny in revenue," said the source.

Officials said they are close to completing investigations of 10 other firms involved in the same racket. So far, the department has unearthed Rs 1.50 billion worth of additional fake VAT bills from them and built up a tax liability of over Rs 800 million.

"We anticipate the liability to go up further by the time we complete the assessments," the source stated.

IRD had first sensed the fake VAT bill racket -- known the world over as ´the case of missing traders´ -- a year ago when it found VAT bills with future dates of transaction while raiding a mobile phone dealer at Putalisadak.

But it launched an extensive investigation only after it nabbed some 200 bundles of fake bills from Saraswoti Stationery at Babarmahal in December 2010. This had made it clear that businesses were buying genuine VAT bills of smaller firms or printing bills of some other registered traders to create fake transactions with a view to evade tax and even siphon off money from the national treasury.

Since then, IRD cracked down on 32 major firms involved in wrongdoing. They include 2 industrial firms, 8 auto dealers, 3 construction companies, 4 construction materials dealers, 3 electronics dealers, a department store, a vendor of locally manufactured goods, a housing company and the authorized distributor for a multinational company.

It also found seven different cases of export firms claiming VAT refund on the basis of fake VAT bills. Inland revenue offices also launched investigations in 10 separate cases of fake VAT racketeering at local level.

Tax officials were shocked to find investigations of one party dragging in others, in a never ending chain.
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