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FORMER PRIME MINISTER MARICH MAN SINGH

SRESTHA SUFFERING LUNG CANCER

Kathmandu, 12 July: Former Prime Minister Marich Man Singh

Shrestha of the panchayat era is undergoing treatment for long cancer

at a New Delhi hiospital, his family revealed.

The family appealed for assistance for treatment.

Singh is best known for supplying essential commodities during a crippling economic embargo slapped by India in 1990 for purchasing Chinese arms for Royal Nepal Army during the King Birendra regime.

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CPN MAOIST CHAIRMAN RETURNS HOME

Kathmandu, 12 July: CPN Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidhaya returned to the capital Thursday.

Vice-chairman Nayaran Kazi Shrestha also returned after holding talks with Chinese leaders.

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TRADER COVICTED FOR MONEY LAUNDERING

Kathmandu, 12 July:  Dawa Tasi Lama, 40, was convicted Thursday by the

special court for money laundering.

The trader was slapped a two-year jail term along with  fine of Rs 21.8

,illion.

Lama was arrested from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) with

195,000 euros before boardig a flight for New Delhi.

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VDC SECRETARIES SUSPENDED FOR FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES Kathmandu, 12 July: Five VDC secretaries and one technical assistant have been suspended in Sapatri district for embezzling social security Allowances, Jitendra Kumar Jha writes in Republica reports from Rajbiraj.  . While Brahmapur VDC secretary Dev Narayan Sah, Jandaul VDC secretary Krishna Bahadur Dahal and Jandaul VDC´s technical assistant Ram Charitra Thakur have been suspended for embezzling social security allowances meant for elderly people, Kanchanpur VDC secretary Prem Puri, Manraja and Basalpur VDC secretary Bindu Lal Chaudhary and Chhinnamasta VDC secretary Tahir Husain have been suspended for embezzling nutrition allowances meant for children under five from Dalit communities. All of them have been suspended for two months. VDC secretaries Sah and Dahal and technical assistant Thakur were suspended after they were found guilty of embezzling social security allowances by forging signatures and fingerprints of the dead. According to Saptari´s Local Development Officer (LDO) Krishna Prasad Sapkota, they did not remove the names of dead people from the list of elderly people entitled to social security allowances. Instead, they pocketed allowances by forging signatures and fingerprints of the dead. Of the three, Sah has been suspended on the charge of embezzling social security allowances for the second time in a year. Earlier, Sah, when he was VDC secretary of Bairaba VDC, was suspended when a team led by then Federal Affairs and Local Development Minister Narayan Krishna Shrestha found him guilty of embezzling social security allowances. In Brahmapur VDC, Sah has been accused of misappropriating social security allowances of 22 elderly people. Jandaul VDC secretary Dahal and technical assistant Thakur were found guilty of forging signatures and fingerprints of the 17 dead and withdrawing allowances in their name. Similarly, Chhinnamasta VDC secretary Husain, Manraja VDC secretary Chaudhary and Kanchanpur VDC secretary Puri have been suspended on the charge of misappropriating nutrition allowances meant for Dalit children under the age of five. The suspension of five VDC secretaries comes at a time when reports of misuse of social security allowances are pouring in from across the country. LDO Sapkota says the case in Saptari could just be the tip of iceberg, hinting at probabilities that a large amount of social security allowances is being misused elsewhere as well.
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