Kathmandu, June 4, 2007

The Young Communist League today presented alleged bank fraud Sitaram Prasain at Khula Manch press conference before handing him over to the Metropolitan Police Range in Hanumandhoka.

Surrounded by YCL members at the crowded podium, Prasain said he was picked up from his office in Heritage Plaza at 3 pm yesterday and was kept in a hotel near New Bus Park. He said the YCL members quizzed him but did not torture him.

The YCL has leveled 11 accusations against Prasain, who was chairman of the Cottage and Small Industries Development Bank Limited. He has been accused of shutting the CSIDBL after embezzling Rs 70 crore, providing loans without collateral, and taking loan amounting to Rs 30 million on fake land ownership certificate. However, Prasain flatly denied the charges. “I am ready to face any action if the accusations are proved,” he told the mediapersons.

“We captured Prasain following the request of Aang Dendi Sherpa, the president of the bank,” Valley Coordinator of the YCL, Sagar, said. He said the YCL would deal with ‘cheaters’ like Prasain in its own way if the police failed to take legal action against him.

During the press conference, the people gathered at the Khula Manch chanted slogans against Prasain and sought severe action against him.

PLA verification Phase-II unlikely to begin on time

Kathmandu, June 4, 2007

United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) may not be able to begin the second stage of verification of 30,852 Maoist combatants on schedule, if the government failed to immediately release the “first instalment” of the allowances to be paid to the People’s Liberation Army.

A meeting of the Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC) headed by UNMIN’s General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen on May 28 had decided to begin the second stage of verification by June 10.

As the Maoist representatives expressed displeasure at the delay in payment to their combatants, JMCC’s almost three-hour-long meeting today remained inconclusive. “The Maoists are demanding that the government pay the party, which would then pay its combatants, but the concerned ministry wants to pay the combatants through the government employees,” a government source told this daily.

The government wants to get the signatures of those on PLA payroll. The Maoist representatives told the JMCC that they could decide on when to begin the second stage of verification only after their party takes a decision in this regard.

JMCC has finalised the framework and modality for verification process that was to begin from Ilam.