HIMALAYA PANDE BEING QUESTIONED IN BIGGEST AUSTRALIAN BRIBERY SCANDAL

HIMALAYA PANDE INVOLVED IN BIGGEST CORPORATE BRIBERY SCANDAL IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY; WILL BE QUESTIONED BY AUSTRALIAN OFFICIALS (EXCERPTS)

Kathmandu, 11 Aug.: Senior Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) officials have denied knowing the corrupt activities of its subsidiaries, but the evidence suggests otherwise, write Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker in The Sydney Morning Herald 10 August issue.
On May 200, in Nepal, a man well known around Kathmandu for having powerful friends received a surprising message from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA’s) currency printer. After helping Note Planning Australia (NPA)—a company fully owned and overseen by the RBA—with two contracts to replace Nepal’s paper currency with the special plastic notes, Himalaya Pande was sacked.
Today, the circumstances surrounding removal of Pande, who was NPA’s lobbyist and agent in Nepal, raises the most serious questions in what emerges as the biggest corporate bribery scandal in Australian history.
The demise of Himalayan Pande as NPA;s man in Kathmandu had its genesis in events that took place seven months before he was sacked.
In late 2006, a Royal Commission that found the Australian Board of paying bribes to the then Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, gave a clear message, bribing foreign officials to win contracts was illegal and should be subject to the full force of the law.
Clear allegations of bribery involving NPA were discovered.
The concern about overseas agents was great enough to lead to the immediate sacking of Pande and another NPA agent, the Kuala Lumpur arms dealer Abdul Kayum. Kayum received at least $4 million commission from NPA.
But he [Graeme Thompson] remained chairman of the NPA’s sister a concern—Securrency—until March 2008, almost a year after he was told of corruption around the use of agents in Nepal and Malaysia.
So what of Himalaya Pande? He , like many Securrency and NPA agents, is most likely to waiting for police knock on his door. It has been a long time coming.
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GOVT. TO SEEK $1.6 BILLION CHINESE LOAN FOR WEST SETI HYDRO PLANT
Kathmandu, 11 Aug.: The government will formally request China for US $1.6 billion in loan to construct the much-hyped 750 MW West Seti Hydro Project Limited (WSHPL). The development follows Chinese assurances to provide assistance should the government formally request so, government sources said, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.
“After estimating the financial capabilities of interested countries and firms, we have concluded that only China can build this project. In this regard, we will make a formal request to China,” a senior Finance Ministry official told the Post. The request will be made during the visit here of a Chinese delegation led by a Communist Party official next week. Zhou Yongkan, who ranks ninth in the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, is arriving with a 60-member delegation on August 16 with an economic package, according to officials.
A Chinese team led by Director General of the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Gao Bo, is already in the Capital. The team held talks with Energy Secretary Bala Nanda Poudel, Irrigation Secretary Tana Gautam and Director General of Irrigation Department Anil Pokhrel on Wednesday. The Nepali side apprised the Chinese officials of their preparations. On July 27, the Cabinet revoked the licence of West Seti Hydropower Limited held by Australia’s Snowy Mountain Engineering Corps (SMEC) and decided that the Energy Ministry should develop the project itself. The company had acquired the licence in 1996.
The Ministry of Finance carried out a study of potential institutional lenders and zeroed in on China, according to sources. The Ministry of Energy revised the estimated current cost of the project to US $ 1.6 billion.
“It would be a government-to-government deal,” a senior Energy Ministry official said. “We are in the last stages of readying the technical proposal that will be forwarded later to the Ministry of Finance.”
In 2009 the cash-strapped project got a boost when the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) decided to invest in it. CMEC even signed an agreement with WSHPL during the visit of then Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to China in 2009. CMEC President Jia Zhiqiang and WSHPL Director Himalaya Pandey had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Beijing. The Chinese firm had decided to invest Rs 15 billion in the project.
However, CMEC later opted out of the project saying Nepal lacks an investment-friendly environment. Another important shareholder of the company, Asian Development Bank, also declined citing lack of public acceptance of the project and issues of good governance.
In May this year, China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), a corporation running one of the world’s biggest hydro power projects, sent a letter to Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal expressing its interest in the West Seti while offering ‘flexible conditions’ to develop the project.
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NEPALI WITH FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
Kathmandu, 11 Aug.: One of the two French soldiers killed while fighting Taliban insurgents in
Kapisa province in Afghanistan on Aug 7 has been identified as Nepali national Kisan Bahadur Thapa, Shiva Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post from Pokhara.
In 2008, Thapa, 30, a native of Syangja district, had joined the French Foreign Legion, a special unit created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces. He was promoted to Corporal only this year. Thapa’s family and friends were saddened by his death. His wife, Renu, lost her consciousness upon receiving the news and was admitted to Metro City Hospital. She was discharged on Tuesday.
Thapa’s wife, son and his parents left for France on Wednesday to receive his body. His wife has been temporarily living with their six-year-old son at Sirjanachowk in Pokhara, where he ran a training centre for youths aspiring to join the UK Army and the Singapore Police.
Thapa and his mate from the second regiment foreign paratroopers were gunned down, while five others were injured in the attack launched by the insurgents. The French Legionnaires were apparently searching for Afghan fortified position in Tagab Valley.
Four Nepali nationals serving in foreign armies lost their lives in Afghanistan war since 2001.
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DATE TURNS DEADLY FOR COLLEGE GIRL





Kathmandu, 11 Aug : A date took a deadly turn for a young college girl when her boyfriend came home from studies abroad and got her murdered last night [Tuesday], Purusottam Khatri writes in The Rising Nepal .
According to police, Subash Upreti, 21, called his girlfriend Roji Maharjan, a BBA III-year student at the Nepal College of Management (NCM), Dhobighat, Lalitpur, on a date five days ago.
Upreti, a permanent resident of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-34, Baneshwore, had returned home some five months ago from the U.K after his BBA studies there.
Maharjan left her house at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 5, saying that she would go to her college.
She was apparently persuaded by Upreti to go on a date at Lele VDC in Lalitpur on his motorcycle with registration Ba 29 Pa 6506.
On the night of her abduction, an unknown person, using Roji’s mobile phone, called in her house and sent SMSs demanding Rs. 30 million in ransom to free their daughter.

The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), Hanumandhoka, recovered the body of Maharjan from a jungle at Simpani Bhanjyang of Nallu VDC of Lalitpur Wednesday morning.
Police succeeded to bring three accused, including Upreti, under the net Wednesday.
Two others arrested were Suchit Khadka, 20, of Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City-13, Thasikhel and Hussain Rai, 20, temporarily residing at Thasikhel, Lalitpur district, and permanent resident of Solukhumbu district of Kaku VDC.
Two others accused as involved in the incident are, however, on the run. They were identified as Kumar Tamang, Lalitpur district, and Raju Lohar, a.k.a. Katle of Sarlahi district, and temporarily living at Thasikhel, Lalitpur.
Speaking at a news conference at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office, Ranipokhari, Senior Superintendent of Police Hemanta Malla Thakuri said that the investigation showed that Upreti, along with two of his close aides, had plotted her abduction and killing.
For executing the plot, Upreti spent Rs. 1,750,000, SSP Malla said.
Prior to Roji’s abduction, Upreti had offered Rs. 25,000 to his close aides Khadka and Rai to execute his plot. Upreti spent Rs. 150,000 for his friends after Maharjan was killed, police said.
According to police, on August 5, Maharjan left her scooter with registration Ba 32 Pa 9193 at the parking of Nabil Bank, Pulchowk branch before embarking on the deadly date.
SSP Malla said that the plan was to kill Maharjan at a jungle in Nallu. On the night of her killing, Tamang, Khadka and Lohar reached the spot on another motorcycle.
Lohar opened fire at Maharjan and killed her there. Her body was left in the jungle. Upreti managed to convince his close aides to kill her promising them money that would be received in ransom from the victim’s family.
Police have recovered 7.62 mm pistol used in the shooting and two rounds of magazines.
Relations
Police investigation showed that Upreti and Maharajan were classmates from grade XI. The relations soured when Upreti went to the UK for studies.
"Their relations had almost ended or reached a breakup by the time Upreti returned home as Maharjan had another love affair," police quoted Upreti as saying during the interrogation. "We are looking for other reasons behind the incident, as Roji’s family economic condition is comparatively poorer than Upreti’s," SSP Malla said.
Upreti came to Nepal and tried resume the relationship. He gradually started suspecting that the girl had developed other affairs. As his doubts got stronger, Upreti changed his mind and planned the brutal killing.
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