TIRTHA BAHADUR TAMANG WINS FIRST ANNAPURNA MARATHON

PARLIAMENTARY MONITORING COMMITTEE FOR FIVE-POINT AGREEMENT

Kathmandu, 3 June: A parliamentary committee to monitor Sunday’s five point agreement between UCPN(Maoist),.UML and NC is likely to be formed Friday, Speaker Subash Nemwang said in Dhulikhel
Parliament meets later Friday for the first time after Sunday’s meet to extend constituent assembly by three months.
Nemwang warned an emergency still continues even after the agreement which has provided only temporary respite, he said.
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CHILIME HYDRO POWER CO.LTD. SHARES OVERSUBSCRIBED; SHARE SALE STOPPED

Kathmandu, 3 June: Sale of 1.3 million shares of Chilime Hydro Power Co.Ltd were oversubscribed and sale for public will closed from Saturday Friday is the last day to apply for shares, share managers said.
The profit making wholly government-owned public enterprise went public selling 1.3 million shares with par value of Rs.100 for Rs 408.
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TIRTHA BAHADUR TAMANG WINS FIRST ANNAPURNA MARATHON

Kathmandu, 3 June; Tirtha Bahadur Tamang of Nepal Army won the first Annapurna Marathon Friday completing the 42.195 race from Annapurna base camp [4550m) to Dhampur pass (1,770m) in four hours, 10 minutes and 29seconds.
Tamang collected a Rs50,000 purse.
Two army runners came second and third.
The race commemorates Dr. Harkha Gurung, noted geographer and Nepal’s first tourism minister and Frenchman Maurice Herzog who first scaled the 8091 meters high Annapurna-I.
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EU PARLIAMENT, NEPAL EMBASSY ORGANIZE NEPAL PHOTO EXHIBITION

Kathmandu, 3 June: The Nepalese Embassy, Brussels, and the European Parliament jointly organised a photo exhibition entitled 'Nepal in Pictures' at the premises of the European Parliament, RSS reports quoting Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

Similarly, EU-Nepal Friendship Group was also reinstated.

The organisers said the photo exhibition that began on May 17 will last on June 3. NTB has expected that such promotional programmes abroad will help lure tourists on the occasion of the Nepal Tourism Year (NTY)-2011.

Different photos depicting Nepal's nature, culture and lifestyles clicked by the Dutch photographer Wim Van Passel have been kept in the exhibition.

On the occasion, the Dutch woman journalist who scaled Mt. Everest, Bernice Notenboom presented a documentary on impact of climate change on the Himalayas of Nepal.
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CENTRAL BANK DIKTAT ON PROMOTERS’ SHARES
Kathmandu, 3 June: The central bank has tightened share transfer regulation to ensure financial institutions’ sustainability and boost shareholders and depositors condfidence on them. It has directed the banks and financial institutions to get prior approval while transferring promoter shares saying transfer only, The Himalayan Times reports

to those, who has gone through the regulator’s Fit and Proper Test.

“A promoter of any banks and financial institutions, who has not undergone Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’s Fit and Proper Test has to seek permission of the central bank to acquire the banks and financial institutions’ more than two per cent shares,” directed the central bank’s circular.

“The central bank wants to make sure that the promoter shares are not transferred to any unreliable and inefficient people,” said spokesperson of the central bank Bhaskar Mani Gyanwali.

The Fit and Proper Test of the central bank ensures that a promoter is not involved in any type of financial misdealing. The person that has been convicted by the court for being involved in corruption and other criminal activities does not qualify under Fit and Proper Test. The Test also makes sure that the promoters are not being bankrupt and blacklisted earlier.

The central bank had issued a directive instructing banks and financial institutions’ promoters to get prior permission from the central, if any promoter who has not undergone Fit and Proper Test desires to buy shares of a company exceeding two per cent of the total paid up capital even from a fellow promoter.

“We hope that it will encourage only the promoters that pass Fit and Proper test hold majority stakes of any banks and financial institutions,” he said.

Recently, the central bank is haunted by many cases of bad corporate governance, financially weakening the banks and financial institutions. The majority shareholders - especially directors have been found to have been misusing their authority and mismanaged the depositors fund.

The promoters required to seek permission from the regulator only when selling or transferring their equity, earlier.

However, if they sell the shares to another promoter of the banks and financial institutions, there was no need to take consent of the central bank. But they were still required to inform central bank within the fifteen days of the transaction.

However, last year, the central bank made its prior approval mandatory for the promoters holding stake of over two per cent of the paid-up capital while transferring the shares to others also.

The directive stated that the promoter share will not be allowed to be transferred to a person, who is blacklisted by Credit Information Bureau (CIB).

The promoters shares have lock in period of five years and they can not sell their shares — in the secondary market — within the five years of the operation of the banks and financial institutions but they can transfer or sell to the other promoter.
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