KATHMANDU: In a press meet here today, former chairman and patron of Nepal Development Bank Ltd (NDBL) Uttam Pun slammed Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for liquidating NDBL on May 3. NRB is acting in a biased manner with banks and especially so in the case of NDBL, he accused.

“NDBL is not in a bad position as NRB is describing,” he said, “It is basically the ego of NRB senior officials working behind the whole process. When NRB could not succeed in demoralizing me, it played dirty,” he added.

According to Pun, NDBL can be revived if NRB acts positively. “There is no problem in returning deposits, neither is there any financial crisis. So, how can NRB say our financial status is not sound?” he questioned. He, however, could not explain why NDBL’s promoters did not buy its rights shares.

Member of NDBL’s board of directors (BoD) Om Shrestha claimed NDBL was in sound state, saying, “Its real loss is Rs 264.6 million and it can be revived,” he said scoffing at the NRB claim of Rs 680 million loss. He buttressed his stand by giving examples of NDBL’s repayment in bulk deposits of Nepal Army (NA), Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Bima Samiti.

NDBL chairman Ambar Gurung urged NRB to explore alternatives to revitalize the bank rather than liquidating. “We want to submit alternatives to NRB to safeguard deposits and investment. Will NRB consider our proposal?” he asked.

Pun also blamed the media for the failure of NDBL. “The media made it a propaganda issue and did not report the reality,” he blamed. Irked, the journalists present disagreed with him and walked out of the press meet.