CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MINISTERS IN NEW GOVT.

GOVT.ENFORCING CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MINISTERS

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Cabinet is discussing a code of conduct for ministers for enforcement; discussions started Monday
Two coalition partners had agreed to enforce the code immediately after Maoist and a front of five Madeshbadi parties formed a majority government two weeks ago.
Maoists formed a majority government with Madeshbadi parties after a communist majority government with UML collapsed in more than seven months.
Mistreatment of officials by ministers by ministers is being discouraged..
Ministers in a previous government illegally abused officials publicly in public.
One Maoist locked up an official in the rest room in Kathmandu.
Madeshi lawmakers in the government of Prime Minister of Madhav Kumar Nepal even slapped officials at office.
Action was never taken against officials to save the government.
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3,500 POLICEMEN DEPLOYED FOR FESTIVE SEASON IN VALLEY

Kathmandu, 13 Sept. Altogether 3,500 policemen have been deployed for the festive season in the three Valley districts.
The deployment comes to strengthen security during the long holiday season.
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SHORAHA SHARAD BEGINS TUEDAY

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Shoraha sharad began being observed from Tuesday with puja for dead ancestors .
Food and water will be offered to them in remembrance.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

QATAR AIRWAYS FLYING FOUR TIMES DAILYBETWEEN KATHMANDU, DOHA

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Qatar Airways is operating four daily flights between Kathmandu and Doha from 1 October.
Easy connections to 100 destinations are available from Doha.
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CLEMENCY LIKELY FOR 11 MAOISTS CHARGED IN INDIA
Kathmandu, 13 Sept : The government is likely to request India for clemency to ten Maoist leaders including four sitting lawmakers and politburo leaders convicted on treason charges by an Indian high court recently, Kiran Chapagain/Kiran Pun report Republica.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayankaji Shrestha told Republica that the government on Monday approached the office of the attorney general for advice.

"We have asked the attorney general to study the legal procedure and how the issue can be resolved," Shrestha said when asked how the government and the Maoist party would deal with the verdict of the Patna High Court.

In a recent decision, the Patna High Court convicted lawmakers Lokendra Bista, Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, Tara Gharti and Dilip Maharjan. Similarly, others convicted include Maoist leaders Kul Prasad KC, Anil Sharma, Kumar Dahal, Min Prasad Chapagain, Hit Bahadur Tamanag and Shyam Kishor Yadav Bista and KC are politburo members of the Maoist party while Bista and Tamang are former ministers. The court slapped jail terms ranging from two years to six years, and fine on the Maoist leaders.

In a commando raid in June 2004, the Indian security officials had arrested the Maoist leaders from five places in Bihar where they had gone for treatment, accusing them of having connection with Indian Maoists, which have been fighting against the Indian government, and thus amounting to treason.

The leaders were underground at that time in Nepal and were labeled as terrorists by the then Nepal government.

According to Bista, they were released on bail after two years as the Maoists joined the peace process and joined the mainstream politics.

A source said that the attorney general is likely to advise the government to ask the Indian government through diplomatic channel for clemency.

Prime Minister´s aide Bishwadeep Pandey told Republica that the Office of the Prime Minister has started diplomatic efforts to settle the issue on Monday.

This is the second case of Nepali politicians convicted in an Indian court. Nepali Congress leader Chakra Prasad Bastola was convicted by a court in Arariya, Bihar, for his involvement in the hijacking of a Nepali plane in the early 1970s. His case was dropped when he became Nepali Ambassador to India in the early 1990s through diplomatic channel.

In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shrestha, who is also the Maoist vice-chairman, said that the government and the Maoist party have taken the court verdict with surprise.

"We had expected the Indian government to withdraw the cases against our leaders much earlier. But we came to know now that the cases have not been withdrawn. The verdict came as a surprise," Shrestha said.

Similarly, former Minister Bista has questioned the timing of the verdict. "Why did the court pass the verdict at this time after five years?"
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NRB DEPUTY GOVERNOR TO PROBE IC TRANSFER

Kathmandu, 13 Sept 13: The High-Level Financial Sector Coordination Committee has recommended that the government form a high-level panel led by a deputy governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to look into the reported misappropriation of Indian Currency (IC) by different business firms by producing fake customs documents in banks, Prabhakar Ghimere writes in Republica.

A member of the committee told Republica that the meeting chaired by Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun recommended that the panel be represented by Nepal Bankers Association (NBA), heads of different departments of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), representative from NRB´s Foreign Exchange Department.

“The panel will speed up the ongoing investigation into cases of IC misappropriation and also find out reasons behind the rising cases of misappropriation of foreign currencies. It will also suggest measures to cope with the problem in coming days,” said the source.

Similarly, NRB has formed a three-member team led by its Deputy Director Chet Prasad Upreti to facilitate the ongoing investigation into the cases being carried out by DRI.

“The team will support the DRI´s team in investigating the documents related to foreign exchange abuses by traders. It will also verify and investigate the documents related to issuance of IC to the firms by the banks,” said the source.

Initial investigations have showed that documents produced by eight firms at NIC Bank´s Birgunj branch, seeking issuance of Rs 630 million worth of IC were fake.

“Almost all the customs declaration forms and other related documents submitted by those firms at the bank appeared to be related to fake imports worth Rs 261.6 million,” said Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, director general of DRI. “The findings of NIC suggest that transactions of other banks are suspicious as the same eight firms are involved in the transactions.”

DRI investigation shows that those firms have misappropriated around Rs 770 million by producing demand drafts and customs declaration forms at 10 different banks in Birgunj.

According to Shrestha, those firms withdrew Rs 630 million from NIC Bank, Rs 11.8 million from Everest Bank, Rs 32.3 million from Laxmi Bank, Rs 7.7 million from Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Rs 60.4 million from Siddhartha Bank and Rs 16.4 million from Nepal Investment Bank. Those firms are also found to have opened accounts with Sunrise Bank, Nabil Bank, Global Bank and Bank of Kathmandu.

Amid slow progress in investigation into the cases, DRI has requested the Department of Customs (DoC) to help it in verifying the documents.

An investigation carried out by the DRI had found Maxwell Computer, Shyam Galla Bhandar, Jaya Mata Di International, Digital World and GS Traders of producing nine fake customs declaration forms to withdraw huge amount of IC from different commercial banks.

DRI has also sealed the warehouses of Nitesh Brothers, Jaibaba Amar Nath and Gangotri Gallaghar in Birgunj and put Dinesh Gupta, proprietor of those firms, behind the bars.

In suspicion of abuse of foreign currencies, Shrestha said the DRI was initiating investigation in other bordering towns like Butwal, Itahari, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj.
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