Kathmandu:
Nepal’s only billionaire, Binod Chaudhary, is under the lens of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) in connection with a government land-grab case. The matter came to light after CIB wrote a letter to Nepal’s House Speaker, informing him of their ongoing investigation.
Mr Chaudhary, a lawmaker from the Nepali Congress in the lower house of the Nepal Federal Parliament, is being investigated for allegedly privatizing land belonging to the Bansbari Shoe Factory, a government entity.
Hobindra Bogati, a senior officer at CIB, submitted a letter at the Parliament Secretariat informing House Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire about the investigation against the lawmaker in the land embezzlement case.
The CIB has also given Mr Chaudhary a deadline until Thursday morning to provide an explanation of the case to the investigating authority, otherwise he might face arrest.
Mr Chaudhary is accused of illegally acquiring 10 ropani (54758.621 square feet) of land from the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory, a government-owned company that is now defunct.
He is accused of transferring the land to Champion Footwear under an illegal agreement, and subsequently renamed the company to CG Chandbagh Residency Pvt, which is owned by him.
He later gave the land to his brother, Arun Chaudhary, who now operates CG Chandbagh School on the seized property. An investigation had found that the Nepali billionaire, like his brother Arun Chaudhary, holds shares in Champion Footwear Company, a venture implicated in acquiring government land from the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory.
Documents also revealed that Arun, the younger brother, has 200 shares in Champion Footwear Limited.
Despite his brother’s arrest in connection with this case, Binod Chaudhary was not arrested. The documents indicate that the 200 shares, valued at 2 lakh, are part of an agreement specifying that the company should hold 2,500 shares of Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory.
It is also noted in the document that Binod Chaudhary’s ‘s father, Lunkarandas Chaudhary, owns more than 2100 shares in the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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