January 30: A probe committee formed to investigate the sale and purchase of shares of Ncell, a private sector telecommunication service provider of Nepal, has submitted its report to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.    
The committee’s coordinator, Tanka Mani Sharma Dangal, submitted the report to the PM at Singha Durbar on Monday.    

The committee report has concluded that Ncell might be involved in tax evasion due to its opaque share transactions, including those in the past. The report mentions that Ncell’s share transactions were done twenty four times in the past and those transactions were done overseas. The committee has recommended further study before taking any decision on this matter. 

The government had formed the probe committee under coordination of former Auditor General Sharma on December 7 to investigate the issues of compliance with existing laws regarding Ncell’s share transaction and its possible impacts in foreign investment and revenue collection.    
Secretary Phanindra Gautam, Joint-Secretary of the Finance Ministry, Ritesh Kumar Shakya, Joint-Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Baburam Bhandari, and President of ICAN, Sujan Kumar Kafle, were the committee members.    
The government had fixed a deadline of one month for the committee to submit its report but the deadline was extended after the committee failed to complete the task within deadline.