Kathmandu,15 Feb 2015: The Finance Committee of the Legislature-Parliament has asked the government officials to immediately begin a probe into Rs 5.5 billion reportedly stashed in HSBC, a Swiss private bank, by eight different Nepalis.
Today’s meeting of the committee directed the officials to bring the account holders to book and make public the reality after investigating into the amount.
Committee Chairman Prakash Jwala told RSS that the meeting has directed the officials to forward the process for bilateral legal assistance agreement with the related countries to get access to information about the secret bank accounts and other issues too.
Jwala said the meeting also directed the officials to make a clear legal provision on opening bank accounts by the Nepalis in foreign countries and opening the same type of bank accounts in the foreign currencies after returning home and to provide information to the Committee about this.
Furthermore, the Committee has directed the Department of Industry and officials concerned to inform the Committee and the commoners regarding the industries run by the FDI, the existing status of the companies and the entire details.
Earlier, the Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Yubraj Khatiwada, Finance Secretary Suman Prasad Sharma and Director General of the Department of Money Laundering Investigation Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the money stashed away in the Swiss bank could not be termed illegal and informed the Committee that a preliminary investigation has been initiated into the same.
Source:RSS
