Kathmandu, August 5:

The tug-of-war over the majority stake in Nepal Recreation Centre (NRC) seems to be over with a Hong Kong court dismissing an injunction on revived Canossa Investment, the major investor in NRC.

R D Tuttle, an American national, who built a chain of seven casinos in Nepal, has been locked in a fight with his former protégé, a chartered accountant from New Delhi, Rakesh Wadhwa over the ownership of NRC, the only frim licensed to run casinos in Nepal. The Canossa Investment, a Hong Kong-based company, was struck off from the Registrar of Companies in 1997. The shareholders of old Canossa including Wadhwa applied for revival of the firm in March 2007 and application was accepted, according to a NRC press note.

A similar application was lodged by R D Tuttle. But it was rejected on the ground that he was neither a shareholder nor a director or a creditor of Canossa, as he had already sold his shares to Dartford in 1990.

However, Tuttle filed a suit before the Courts, asking to withdraw the application for revival of Canossa. At first, it issued a stay order. But later it revoked its order. Then Tuttle approached the High Court and received exparte interim orders for the revived Canossa. On August 3, on the basis of facts and evidences presented by Wadhwa’s attorneys, the High Court vacated the stay order and upheld the decision of the Registrar of Company, Hong Kong. Friday’s verdict, going in Wadhwa’s favour, now allows him to swing into action.

When contacted, Tuttle was not reachable, as his mobile phone was switched off.