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Business Organizations Stand in Defense of Corruption-Accused Industrialists   

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Business Organizations Stand in Defense of Corruption-Accused Industrialists   
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February 1: Three associations of business enterprises and industrialists have issued a joint statement expressing concerned over a case filed in the special court by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against industrialists for using more mines than the prescribed capacity.    

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) issued a joint statement on Monday (January 31), expressing serious concern over the negative impact that it would have on investment promotion, job creation and overall development and expansion of the private sector in Nepal, the state-owned RSS reported.    

They claim that the recent corruption scandal against investors in the cement industry has discouraged the private sector.    

FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha, President of CNI Bishnu Kumar Agrawal and President of the NCC Rajendra Malla have jointly signed and issued the statement.

The anti-graft body had filed cases against the operators of nine cement industries as well as officials of the Department of Mines and Geology (DMG) in the last week of January accusing the DGM employees of waiving fines amounting to over Rs 1.2 billion to the cement industries for extracting limestone by breaching the rules.    

As a result, the government had to incur losses of over Rs 1.2 billion in fine from the cement factories, said a three-member committee formed to investigate the matter.

The CIAA has filed cases against the then superintendent mining engineer of the DMG Jayaraj Ghimire, undersecretary (law department under the DMG) Sapana Adhikari, senior division mechanic engineer Prashanta Bohora, account officer Shree Bhadra Gautam, research officer Basanta Adhikari, geologist Dr Sainik Bhandari and employee Dharma Raj Khadka and deputy attorney Chandra Kumari Pokharel. It has claimed over Rs 1.2 billion from the accused.    

Similarly, the CIAA has also taken action against nine industries that have been found involved in the case.    

It has claimed over Rs 163 million from Bishnu Prasad Neupane, owner of Sarbottam Cement; over Rs 494 million from Pashpati Murarka, owner of Siddhartha Minerals Pvt Ltd; over Rs 205 million from Sharad Gogal, owner of Maruti Cement; over Rs 111 million from Rishi Agrawal, owner of Annapurna Quarries; over Rs 17 million from Prabal Jung Pandey, owner of Udayapur Minerals; over Rs 96 million from Naresh Dugad, owner of United Cement; over Rs 69 million from Nipesh Tayal, owner of Sonapur Cement; over Rs 30 million from Bhim Bahadur Thapa Chhetri, owner of Kanchan Quarries and over Rs 54 million from Man Bahadur Shrestha, owner of Dolomite Limestone Industry.

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