CAPITAL’S MORNINGTEMPERATURE FRIDAY 2 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 4 Jan. The capital’s minimum temperature Friday morning was 26 degrees Celsius. Mercury is expected to rise of 19 degrees later Friday. The minimum temperature Thursday was 2 degrees Celsius. Nnnn . MMC PLAYS BANSBARI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: MMC plays Bansbari in the martyrs memorial A Division ffootball league championship Friday at Dashrath Rangashala. Baudha lays Myadhyapur in another match. nnnn NA COL.HELD IN UK ON ALLGEDED TORTURE CHARGE 1 Kathmandu 4 Jan.: A Nepal Army (NA) officer has been arrested in the UK on suspicion of involvement in torture during the decade-long Maoist conflict in Nepal. Kosj Raj Koirala Reports in Republica.. Multiple sources confirmed that police from a specialist unit of the Metropolitan Police Service arrested NA Colonel Kumar Lama in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex on Thursday. Lama is suspected of torturing a detainee in Nepal in 2005, when the Maoist insurgency was at its peak. Lama had reached the UK some two weeks ago after completing his term with the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Sudan, to meet his wife, who lives there. In a statement, Metropolitan Police said the man remains in custody in Sussex. Officers are conducting searches at the address where he was arrested at 7:19 GMT, BBC reported. The investigation is linked to very serious allegations of torture made by an individual who is in contact with human rights campaigners in Nepal and a law firm in London, the BBC further said. The UK Embassy in Kathmandu confirmed the arrest. “The UK has universal jurisdiction over the most serious of international crimes including the crime of torture,” said a spokesperson. Genocide, torture, war crimes, crime against humanity and disappearances are regarded as international crimes. ´Universal jurisdiction´ permits the UK to arrest and prosecute people accused of human rights abuses committed overseas, even if the crime is not connected to events in the UK. ´Universal jurisdiction´ is invoked to punish those guilty of international crimes when the government concerned is unwilling or unable to take action against those guilty of such crimes, said human rights lawyer Gobinda Bandi. Meanwhile, the victim has welcomed the arrest. “Although torture is not a criminal offense in Nepal, the victim hopes the British legal system will deliver justice in accordance with international treaties which criminalizes torture wherever it occurs in the world,” said a statement issued by the law firm Hickman and Rose on behalf of the victim. Menawhile also, NA Spokesperson Brigadier Suresh Sharma said they are yet to get official information about the arrest. (Note: Despite claims it has universal jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute persons for rights abuses, London has been selective in implementation. It announced and then didn’t go ahead with the arrest of an Israeli prime minister passing through London for USA arguing London had doog relations with Tel Aviv. A former Chile president was arrested in London for the same charge for which Col. Lama was arrested amongst foreigners. The action reflecting double standard will directly impact bilateral relations.) nnnn IB SUMMONS NB INURANCE DIRECTORS Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: The Insurance Board (IB) has summoned board of directors of NB Insurance to seek clarification over the latter´s failure to restore misappropriated sum of Rs 35.3 million in its coffers, Republica reports.. The decision to summon board members of the troubled non-life insurer was taken as the three-month deadline extended to the company to recoup the embezzled amount expired on Thursday. “We called them to our office to listen to their side of the story. We will decide on the future course of action only after that,” Binod Aryal, executive director of the Insurance Board, told Republica. The insurance sector regulator, on October 2, had given a period of three months to the company to return Rs 35.3 million that was siphoned off to a fixed deposit account in World Merchant Banking and Finance Company by violating investment norms set by the Insurance Board. Based on the condition of recouping the money, the regulator at that time had also lifted two-month ban put on business activities of the company, which was found guilty of misappropriating millions of rupees raised in the form of insurance premium from the public. The insurance company, promoted by NB Group, had landed in trouble after it was found making a controversial payment of Rs 59 million in the pretext of clearing house rent. Since the payment was made without taking prior consent of the Insurance Board, it directly violated the regulatory norm that bars insurers from making expenses in excess of Rs 2 million without taking prior permission. As investigation continued, it was found that the payment was made by misappropriating cash lying in the ´earmarked fund´ -- which is made up of amount parked in reserve fund, insurance fund, unexpired risk reserve and outstanding claim reserve. Although insurance companies are barred from using any amount parked in this fund, NB Insurance had managed to draw off over Rs 70 million from the reserve. Of this amount, Rs 21.5 million, deposited at Nepal Housing and Merchant Finance, was later transferred to various commercial banks, and Rs 15.3 million was parked at call and current accounts of different finance companies. But a huge chunk of money - Rs 35.3 million - currently lies in World Merchant Banking and Finance Company, which is in deep financial trouble. So far, the finance company has denied releasing the amount citing there is few months left for the two-year fixed deposit to mature. But the Insurance Board is not interested in listening to these excuses, as the company had flouted the law that bars insurers from parking more than three percent of gross amount allocated for investment purpose in one finance company Bikrant Pandey, acting CEO of NB Insurance, said: “We would be able to fix everything in a few months time as only the deposit at World Merchant is maturing in around three months.” Nnnn