FIRST TIME ALL INTERNAL FLIGHTS OF NAC SUSPENDED Kathmandu, 8 June: For the first time all internal flights of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) have been suspended, Nagarik reports. Two aircraft have been grounded and a third has been sent for repair. LPG QUOTA LIST FUELS DOUBT Kathmandu, 8 June: The state oil monopoly has failed to provide the quota list of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) distributed to 42 bottling plants to Ministry of Commerce and Supplies. The ministry had asked Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to provide a detailed list of the quota distribution of the last three months, according to a source at the ministry, The Himalayan Times reports . The corporation has been claiming that it provides LPG — popularly known as cooking gas — quota to bottling plants on the basis of the number of cylinders they have, he said, adding that the previous data, which the corporation had provided to the ministry, reveals a completely different story. “NOC has been rampantly providing quota to bottling plants ignoring the number of cylinders they have,” he added. “It has provided some 216 metric tonnes of cooking gas to two bottling plants, which have 12,400 cylinders and 21,000 cylinders respectively. Similarly, it has provided 2,400 metric tonnes of cooking gas to another bottling plant that owns 358,000 cylinders, whereas a bottling plant that has 443,486 cylinders has received only 2,400 metric tonnes of LPG, according to the previous list.” The data also revealed that NOC has been providing quota arbitrarily, the source said, suspecting that the corporation might not be interested in providing the latest detailed list due to its flawed quota allocation system that has fuelled corruption at Nepal Oil Corporation. The corporation issues Product Delivery Order (PDO) arbitrarily to bottling plants to import LPG from various depots of Indian Oil Corporation, said consumer rights activist Prem Lal Maharjan. “NOC officials receive at least Rs 20,000 from a bottling plant every month to allocate quota,” he blamed, asking the concerned government agencies and the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to investigate the quota system to unearth the reality. The state machinery is inefficient as it has failed to bring Nepal Oil Corporation officials under its scanner, Maharjan said. “The government should ensure transparency in NOC’s dealings.” Nnnn JUSTICE BAM KILLER RELEASED Kathmandu, 8 June:: The high-level panel tasked with probing the May 31 assassination of Supreme Court Justice Rana Bahadur Bam in Shankhamul today released what it called a ‘composite sketch’ (see picture) of one of the two motorcycle-borne people involved in the shooting, The Himalayan Times.. Briefing about its investigation thus far, the probe panel formed under Metropolitan Police Commissioner AIG Kuber Singh Rana informed that two motorcycle-borne individuals had opened fire on Bam, Ram Giri and Mahesh Giri using two pistols. The panel said eyewitnesses, including Bam’s chaffeur Asta Lama, bodyguard Mahesh Giri, family friend Ram Giri and some locals, could not describe the suspect’s face in detail as he was wearing a mask and sun protection hat. Rana, quoting the witnesses, said the suspect was riding pillion, was 27-28 years old, had round face with pimples and was about 5’6” tall. Asta escaped unhurt in the shooting, whereas Mahesh and Ram sustained injuries. The witnesses could not describe the face of another suspect, who was wearing a full-face helmet with tinted visors. Investigators termed the incident an ‘ultra-modern organised crime’ and said they are trying to unravel the mystery by conducting a scientific investigation. Meanwhile, the probe panel has pledged ‘an attractive prize’ for valuable information that can lead to the arrest of the shooters with a pledge to protect the informers’ identities, without saying what the prize entailed. According to the panel, knowledgeable and result-oriented police officers have been working on the case following best practices that have led to arrest of the guilty in similar cases. Officials have asked people to contact 9851042412 or 9851052770 or 9851115077 to provide information about the suspects. Nnnn GOVINDA MAINALI WALKS FREE IN 15 YEARS; ONLY RETRIAL AFTER WORLD WAR II Kathmandu, 8 June: Govinda Prasad Mainali, who was serving a life sentence in a Japanese jail in a high-profile murder case 15 years ago, walked a free man after the Tokyo High Court ordered a retrial Thursday, Ptrm Dhakal writes in Republica.. Presiding Judge Shoji Ogawa based his ruling on new DNA testing which suggests that Mainali, who was serving life for murdering 39-year-old Yasuko Watanabe, a female employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) in 1997, may be innocent. "The verdict stated that he would likely not have been found guilty if the test results had been submitted to the court back then," advocate Balaram Shrestha, who practices law in Japan, said over the phone from Tokyo. The court suspended the life sentence and granted Mainali release from jail after turning down prosecutors who tried twice to register an appeal against his release--first with Bench No 4 and then with Bench No 5. "I am very happy following the retrial verdict. This is as good as winning the case," Mainali´s wife Radhika, who had reached Tokyo along with their two daughters in anticipation of a favorable verdict, said over the phone. "I pray that no one else should have to go through all that we have suffered," she added. Mainali has been sent to an immigration facility in Yokohama following the verdict as he was first arrested in Japan back in 1997 for overstaying his visa. Advocate Shrestha said the Immigration Bureau will now either deport him to Nepal or grant him an exit permit to leave Japan. Radhika, who is in now Japan for the 10th time to seek justice for her husband, disclosed that she had gone to meet her husband at the prison on Wednesday. The prison authorities, who would not normally allow her to meet him for more than 15 minutes allowed her to talk with him for 45 minutes this time, she said. "He asked me to not worry and assured me that the verdict would go in our favor. He said he would hopefully return to Nepal along with us," she disclosed. She will go to meet her husband at the immigration facility on Friday. Dr Gopal Krishna Siwakoti, president of Inhured International, who has been following the case since Mainali´s first arrested in 1997, called the re-trial verdict a landmark decision for migrant workers throughout the world. "The Japanese judiciary is very conservative and does not order a retrial unless there is sufficient evidence to suggest the innocence of the convict," Dr Siwakoti said. Japanese media said that this is the only retrial after World War II for convicts sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Dr Siwakoti reasoned that the fact that the court did not ask Mainali not to leave Japan and that Nepal does not have an extradition treaty with Japan show that the court feels he is innocent and could not by any chance have committed the murder. "The fact that the trial (district) court had first acquitted him in a country which has a conviction rate of 99 percent shows he is innocent. The Japanese judiciary knew that he was innocent all along but was trying to stop a retrial to salvage their collective reputation," he stated, adding that a due compensation process would soon follow after Thursday´s verdict. Govinda Mainali, who left Nepal for Japan in 1994, worked as a waiter in Tokyo until police arrested him in March 1997. He was first held on the charge of overstaying and then on the charge of murdering Watanabe, who moonlighted as a prostitute and was killed on March 8, 1997. Tokyo District Court found him not guilty in April, 2000. But the prosecution, presenting selective evidence, appealed at Tokyo High Court, which found him guilty and jailed him for life on circumstantial evidence, deeming that a third party could not conceivably have entered the murder victim´s room. Tokyo High Court ordered a re-examination of evidence last year following a request for retrial as two crucial pieces of evidence, which were evidently not presented by the prosecution back then, had emerged. DNA tests in July, 2011 showed that a semen sample collected from the woman´s body was not Mainali´s and instead matched a body hair sample found in the room where the woman´s body was found, suggesting the presence of another man at the time of the murder. Then came the revelation later in the year that the blood group of saliva traces found on Watanabe´s breast does not match that of Mainali. The saliva blood type is O, while his is B. SOURCE: KYODO NEWS AGENCY Nnnn DRI TO FREEZE ASSETS ON TWO TAX EVADERS IN NARAYANGHAD Kathmandu, 7 June: The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has decided to freeze all assets and bank accounts of the proprietors of Laxmi Narayan Bastralaya and Bhagawat Bastralaya as the two stores in Narayanghat have been allegedly found evading millions of rupees worth of revenue, Republica reports.. Janma Jaya Regmi, Director General of DRI told Republica that Dhruba Kumar Shretha, proprietor of Laxmi Narayan Bastralaya and Pralhad Shrestha, proprietor of Bhagawat Bastralaya will be summoned at the earliest to the DRI for questioning them on tax evasion and their role in the mistreatment of revenue squad and torching government vehicle in Narayanghat on Wednesday. “We have decided to freeze the bank accounts of Dhruba Kumar Shrestha and Pralhad Shrestha and bar them from selling other fixed assets such as land, building and vehicles with immediate effect. We will soon initiate an investigation into the tax evasion perpetrated by them,” said Regmi. He said DRI requested on Thursday to Nepal Rastra Bank for its cooperation to get their bank accounts frozen. “We are also corresponding with concerned agencies to have their assets frozen,” said Regmi. Local businessmen set ablaze a government vehicle, vandalized a police beat and took revenue officials under their control when a revenue squad dispatched from the capital raided the shops owned by the Shrestha duo suspecting tax evasion. Acting on the tip off, a 24-member ´flying squad´ led by the director of the DRI Bharat Raj Subedi had left for Narayanghat to conduct the raid. Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota, has urged revenue officials to carry out their duties with high morale. He also directed senior revenue officials to step up patrolling the highways to curb revenue leakage. Nnnn ________________________________________ MEDIA GOOGLE ;”Generally, election is not possible beyond Mangshir 15 (November 30) due to weather, But if we get early snow, the election will be impossible on the scheduled date [22 November] in the mountainous region.” (Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety, 8 June) nnnn