GOILD PRICE DIPS RS.500 PER TOLA SUNDAY Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: Gold p rice fell Rs.500 per tola Sunday and was traded for Rs.60.500 with the gain of the Nepali rupee against the US dollar. The yellow meta; was trading for Rs. 61,00 per tola Friday/ Nnnn TWO MADESH PARTIES MOVE TO UNITE Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: Two Madesh parties—one n government and the other in the opposition—have started unity talks, Gorkhaparta. MJFN in opposition and TMLP in government have formed teams to pursue a dialogue for unity. MJFN General Secretary Ram Sahaya Yadv heads his party’s dialogue team while Spokesman Sarbendranath Sukla of TMKP heads his party’s talks team. Yadav said first round of talks was successful nnnn ARMY AGAIN RECOMMENDS PROMOTION OF COL. RAJU BASNET CLEARED FOR RIGHTS ABUSES CHARGES IN NEPAL AFTER APPOINTMENT OF IGP ALSO CHARGED FOR ABUSES Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is gearing up to set the promoting process of Colonel Raju Basnet rolling once again. Basnet, who commanded the Nepal Army’s Bhairavnath Battalion during the Maoist insurgency, is facing serious torture and disappearance allegations, Phanindra Dahal writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Gen Gaurav SJB Rana has convinced senior bureaucrats at the MoD to forward the promotion proposal for the second time to the Cabinet. In July, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who also handles the MoD, had refused to endorse Basnet’s promotion. Gen Rana met Defence Secretary Tilak Ram Sharma last week and lobbied for Basnet’s promotion and is also understood to have taken up the matter with PM Bhattarai. “I will convince the political leadership to promote Basnet. Instead of holding the file, the ministry should forward the request to the Cabinet,” a source quoted Gen Rana as having said. The Army leadership argued that a junior officer should not be made a “scapegoat” in conflict-era cases. Another general at the Army Headquarters, who wished to remain anonymous, said there is no point in penalising Basnet alone as many other perpetrators, including former Maoist lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel, who was handed down a life sentence by the Supreme Court, are walking scot free. The Army has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the investigations against Basnet through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The vision paper outlining priorities of the new Army chief unveiled on September 10 was silent on human rights. This was in sharp contrast to his predecessor Gen Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, who in his first address to the rank and file, said that NA would adopt a zero tolerance policy on human rights. According to the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 49 cases of torture and disappearances were recorded at the Maharajgunj-based Bhairavnath Battalion barracks in 2003 when Basnet was its commander. National and international rights watchdogs have expressed concern over the Bhairavnath case, claiming that promoting Basnet without a credible investigation would tarnish the reputation of the Nepal Army. Defending its bid to promote Basnet, the Army has cited a past precedent when former Maj Gen Toran Bahadur Singh was promoted. The Bhairavnath Battalion was under the 10th brigade led by Singh, who reached the number two rank in the Army during the government led by Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is a CPN-UML leader. A source claimed that the Army Headquarters is all set to forward a second proposal to the Ministry of Defence for Basnet’s promotion in a day or two. nnnn NRB HOLDS AUCTION OF KRISHI PREMURA HOLDING ASSETS Kathmandu, 24 Sept.:Nepal Rastra Bank ( NRB ) has asked Sunrise Bank, Prime Commercial Bank and Bank of Asia not to foreclose on Prabin Naulakha of Krishi Premura Holding with the expectation that the collateral could sell for a higher price than what they would get at auction. The central bank has been preventing the three banks from auctioning off land at Kamaladi, Kathmandu, for defaulting a loan worth Rs 270 million. After the valuator fixed the distressed value of the property at Rs 350 million for auction, Krishi Premura, which had planned to construct JSB financial tower on it, asked for extra time from the central bank claiming that they were getting a much higher offer from foreign investors. With Gurkha Development Bank and NIC Bank also making claims on the land as second and third charge, the value fixed by the three banks fell short of the amount owed to the five banks and financial institutions. Gurkha has claims of Rs 370 million while NIC also has a claim on it. Krishi Premura said that it had found a party, Santino Global from Belize, a Caribbean country, which is ready to buy the land for US$ 10 million, and that it had already received a US$ 200,000 advance from it. “After the loanee provided evidence that it could generate resources of US$ 10 million by selling the land to a foreign party, we decided to give it more time so that all the loans provided against that collateral could be repaid,” said a senior NRB official. Initially, the central bank had set a mid-July deadline for the sale of the land; it later extended the deadline until mid-October. However, there has been hardly any progress on selling the property to Santino Global. “First of all, the land’s ownership should be transferred to Krishi Premura Properties from Shubham Investment,” said Rakesh Adukiya, chief of Krishi Premura. Subham Investment’s name was changed to Krishi Premura Properties, but the land remained in the name of Subham Investment. “We have not been able to complete the necessary paperwork as NIC Bank has been preventing us from selling the land by laying claim to it,” said Adukiya. NIC had provided loans to Adukiya’s firm against other collateral, but has laid claim to the collateral as a third priority lender. However, NIC said that it was just a time-buying tactic of Adukiya as it had already written to both Adukiya’s company and NRB stating that Krishi Premura was free to sell the land and repay the loan. When asked whether they would be able to complete the sale within the extended deadline, he said that it all depends on whether NIC lends support in this regard. The banks, however, have a different take on the matter. They said that as per the Bank and Financial Institution Act (BAFIA), they have the right to auction off the land if the loans are not repaid. A CEO of the bank extending loans against the collateral said that the central bank has prevented auctioning land they have a right to sell besides stopping them from declaring dividends equivalent to the loan amount as well. The central bank has, however, allowed these banks not to keep provisioning of the loans that went to Shubham Investment until the set deadline for selling the land expires. Another NRB official said that it was wrong of the central bank to prevent the banks from auctioning off the collateral which would have improved their books. nnnn CHINA JAILS FORMER POLICE CHIEF Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: A Chinese court jailed ex-police chief Wang Lijun for 15 years on Monday after finding him guilty on four charges, including seeking to conceal the murder of a British businessman, in a scandal that felled ambitious politician Bo Xilai, Reuters reports from Beijing.. The verdict ends the career of one of China's most controversial police officers and moves the ruling Communist Party closer to deciding the fate of Bo whose contentious downfall has shaken a looming leadership handover. The Intermediate People's Court of Chengdu in southwest China said Wang, former police chief of southwestern Chongqing municipality, received the sentence for "bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking", according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. "Wang Lijun stated to the court that he will not appeal," said the Xinhua report. Wang's lawyer, Wang Yuncai, was not available for comment immediately after the announcement. The scandal that felled both men erupted after Gu Kailai, the wife of Bo, murdered British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011 in Chongqing, where Bo was the flamboyant Communist Party chief. As well as the conviction of sabotaging an investigation into the murder, Wang was found guilty of defecting to a U.S. consulate, taking bribes and conducting illegal surveillance. Officials have said the murder arose from a business dispute in Chongqing, which Bo and Wang ran as their fiefdom. After first helping Gu evade suspicion of poisoning Heywood, Wang then kept evidence of the murder, according to the official account of Wang's trial. In late January, Wang confronted Bo with the allegation that Gu was suspected of killing Heywood. But Wang was "angrily rebuked and had his ears boxed". Days later, Bo stripped Wang of his post as Chongqing police chief. Wang, fearing for his safety, fled west to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu where he hid for more than 24 hours until Chinese officials coaxed him out. In August, Gu was sentenced to a suspended death sentence, which effectively means life in prison. Wang sealed his fate at a trial a week ago by admitting the charges, according to an official account of the hearing published by Xinhua news agency. Only official media outlets were allowed inside the courtroom. "As for the crimes that the prosecution has alleged, I understand them, I admit to them and I am repentant for them," Wang told the court in Chengdu, a city about 300 km (190 miles) from Chongqing, according to that earlier account. The Chinese government has not said what will happen to Bo, who in March was sacked as party boss and in April suspended from the ruling Communist Party's Politburo, a powerful decision-making council with two dozen active members. So far, Bo has only been accused of breaching internal party discipline. But experts say the public citing of Bo's angry rebuke of Wang has raised the likelihood that he too will face criminal charges, probably after the party congress. Before then, party leaders could first expel Bo from the party and hand him over for criminal investigation. "The prosecutors said Wang exposed leaders to major crimes by others," said Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer who opposed Wang and Bo for mounting a sweeping crackdown on foes in the name of fighting organised crime. Bo was the likely target of Wang's allegations, said Li. "That was a slap around the ears that changed history," Li said of Bo's alleged actions against Wang. "Otherwise, Bo might still be in power and hoping to rise higher." nnnn