By Sanjaya Neupane
KATHMANDU, July 23 - The "surprising number" of telephonic contacts between a banker and the acting chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) suggests a new twist in the row between the CIAA and the central bank.
Information gathered by the Post shows that Lalit Bahadur Limbu, acting CIAA chief, and Laxmi Bahadur Shrestha, promoter of NB Bank Limited and the troubled Nepal Credit and Commerce Bank (NCCB) had telephonic contacts 73 times between March 15 to July 1.
They talked to each other on the phone 12 times just a day before and on the day the CIAA filed a "controversial" case against Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Bijaya Nath Bhattarai at the Special Court.
The Central Bank has taken over the management of NB Bank accusing its promoters of foul play, and has also initiated action against Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, another bank promoted by Shrestha.
Issuing directives to NCC Bank, the central bank on April 17 had asked it to recover Rs 853.30 million from NB Group - promoter of the bank in which Shrestha has a major stake.
It had also warned of takeover of the bank management if it failed to recover the sum by mid-July, 2007.
Given this background and the long-standing acrimony between Bhattarai and Shrestha, NRB employees claim that Shrestha could have influenced the CIAA chief in implicating Bhattarai without any grounds.
Of the total number of calls, Nepal Telecom records show Limbu had called Shrestha 37 times from his mobile 98510-31682, while Shrestha had dialed him 36 times from his mobile 98510-35349. The mobile phone used by Limbu is registered under the CIAA.
When contacted, Shrestha said he didn't remember with whom he had talked. "It shouldn't be an issue," he said.
Likewise, Limbu said he can talk with anyone given his profession. "It shouldn't be any business of others," he stated.
The CIAA had filed a case against Governor Bhattarai and NRB executive director Surendra Pradhan on June 29, charging them of involvement in corruption over a project aimed at strengthening the supervision capacity of the central bank.
On that day alone, Limbu had talked with Shrestha six times. They talked at 1:15 pm, 2:16 pm, 2:17 pm, 2:34 pm, 2:47 pm and 3:04 pm. The CIAA had filed the case at 1:30 pm.
Limbu and Shrestha had called each other thrice respectively. The duration of all the calls was short - ranging between 11 seconds to 45 seconds.
NT records further show the two had talked the
most on the very day and the day before the CIAA
called the governor for recording his statement. The CIAA had commenced investigation of the case from February 26.
There was a vertical split in opinion among the CIAA commissioners while filing the case against the governor. CIAA commissioner Bed Prakash Shivakoti and CIAA secretary Bhagavati Prasad Kafle were against filing the case.
However, Ranjan Aryal, the investigation officer, had filed the case under direct orders from Limbu. Bhattarai was suspended after the case was filed.
Limbu was appointed as acting chief at the CIAA by the king.
NT records, interestingly, show he had also talked with Chief Secretary at the Royal Palace Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan 19 times during the same period, at 98510-21503.
NT records further show that the duration of their talks totaled 78 minutes 26 seconds.
Posted on: 2007-07-23 19:30:53 (Server Time)http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=116848
