WEDNESDAY’S MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 3 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Wednesday’s minimum temperature was 3 degrees Celsssius. Mercury is expected to rise of 18 degrees in the afternoon. MADI CLOSED DOWN Kathmandu, 19 Dec.:Locals Wednesday closed down Madi from 11 in the morning and will extend until three in the afternoon demanding the killing of Dhurbe.’ The elephant last killed a couple four days ago and their bodies haven’t been pcked up saying demands haven’t been met. Eight political parties called the bandh demanding the forced closure will e extended to the entire district without compensation to the family of the dead and killing of the murderous elephant. Fifteen persons have been killed so far by the elephant. nnnn ANFA TO SIGN MULTI-MILLION RUPEE DEAL Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: The All Nepal Football Association has got an offer it can’t refuse from American sports-wear company, +One, The Kathmandu Post reports. The company has put forward a sponsorship deal worth US$ 450,000 annually for the national team for six years, which in the current exchange rate will amount to Rs 229.5 million, and will also be providing with two American coaches, one each for the national team and the association’s youth academy. The football association revealed this at its 13th General Assembly on Tuesday. Speaking at the programme, Anfa President Ganesh Thapa said the deal with the sporting company will be made in the first week of February, while the hiring of the two coaches will be done in January. If everything goes as planned, the two coaches will be in town by January 10. The football association is set to get further help from the company when the coaches arrive as Thapa has put forward a request to make the company pay 60 percent of the coaches’ salary. The football association is ready to bring in the coaches even if the company rejects the request. “The company will provide all the kits to the players and if the players are found wearing anything besides the company’s product during the trainings and the matches, the company will fine us,” added Thapa, requesting the National Sports Council (NSC) to take care of the two coaches’ salary. NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama, who was the chief guest at the assembly, reacted positively to Thapa’s request. “I will help Anfa in every way I can,” said Lama. The two coaches, both of Polish origin, are pro licensed coaches. One of them will be taking care of the Nepali national side in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and the SAFF Championship 2013 to take place in Kathmandu next September, while the other will be looking after the academy. Here too, + One, have made a lucrative offer to their countrymen. If the national team coach succeeds to qualify the team to final round of the AFC Challenge Cup in Male, the coach will be provided a bonus of $ 8,000 and if he succeeds in lifting the SAFF Championship, he will be richer by $ 10,000. The AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and the SAFF Championship have been accorded the highest priority by the football association in this year’s plan. A host of friendly matches have been arranged before the qualifiers in March next year. A two-match friendly series against Pakistan has been finalised for February 6 and February 9, while other friendlies are also on the cards. Nepal is in Group D with Palestine, Bangladesh and Northern Mariana Island in the qualifiers set to be held in Kathmandu. “It has not been decided who the other countries for the matches will be, but we will play as many friendlies as we can before the qualifiers,” added Thapa. Improvement of existing infrastructure and construction of new infrastructure were the other highlights of the assembly. An artificial turf and the extension of the parapets at the Anfa Academy and construction and improvement of playing grounds in 10 hill districts are the things to look forward in the coming year. Anfa said it hopes to run the existing programmes in calendar in a better and improved way. For this, the association has approved an estimated budget of Rs 13.70 million for the year ahead and passed last year’s budget of Rs 14.46 million. Nnnn $8 BILLIION SUPHONES OFF Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: A large scale capital flight has taken place in Nepal between 2001 and 2010, with the country losing a whopping $ 8.01 billion (Rs 703.94 billion billion), says the latest report published by the US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity, Mujul Humagain and Bhadra SHerma report in The Kathmandu Post.. On an average $ 801.4 million (Rs 70.39 billion) went out of Nepal annually, according to GFI report ‘Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010’. Its previous report titled ‘Illicit Financial Flows from the Least Developed Countries: 1990-2008’, had put Nepal’s annual capital flight at $ 480.4 million. Nepal’s protracted political transition had intensified capital flight in the past few years, with $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion being siphoned off the country in 2009 and 2010 respectively, the report points out. Based on the amount of capital flight, Nepal has been ranked at the 58 position among 143 countries surveyed across the world and sixth among Least Developed Countries (LDCs) exporting funds illegally. Trade mis-pricing accounts for the bulk of illicit outflows from the LDCs like Nepal, according to former Finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal. He attributes under-invoicing as the leading mode of capital flight from Nepal. “Some 80 percent of the capital outflow is through under-invoicing followed by corruption and kickback money,” he said. A major challenge facing Nepali tax authorities is the rampant under-invoicing (declaring a lower price than the actual price) of goods at customs points. The main reason for the much talked about value-added tax (VAT) evasion probe two years ago was also under-invoicing. According to tax officials, under-invoicing remains rampant in the country’s automobile trade. “Same is the case of the Nepal-China trade as it is totally based on the hundi system,” said a leading banker. Nepali law prohibits its nationals from investing abroad or holding accounts in foreign banks. But that has not stopped money from going abroad through illegal channels. Leading bankers say representatives of leading private banks like HSBC, Credit Suisse, UBS, Deutsche, EFG, City and Coutts visit Nepal every year to meet individuals with a high net worth. Nepali money flown out of the country, according to bankers, goes through informal channels, ie either through hundi or hawala. “However, once the money enters foreign banks, it goes through formal channels,” said a banker. According to sources, the amount transferred through under-invoicing generally ends up in countries like the US, South Korea, China and Australia. Sources said businessmen holding dealership of international products generally keep some part of their commissions in foreign banks. Economists say the large scale of capital flight, as the GFI report suggests, poses serious challenge for the country. “The capital flight has hit the country’s economic policy hard as Nepal always lack accurate import and export data,” said Khanal. China leads the GFI’s table of the countries with highest illicit capital flight, with Mexico, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Philippines, Nigeria, India and Indonesia completing the top 10. nnnn