Nepal Trust facing tough time bringing Birendra's assets to use

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, June 11: The Office of the Nepal Trust (ONT) has made public the latest and detailed report of the total property that the trust has acquired so far by tracing and obtaining late King Birendra Shah´s assets in and outside the country.

The government, immediately after overthrowing monarchy after the April movement in 2006, formed the trust with the mandate to acquire all property belonging to late King Birendra Shah, Queen Aishwarya and their family members, preserve it and bring them into proper use.

Brinda Hada, member-secretary of the trust, said it has so far acquired 5,064 ropanis (19.66 ropanies=1 hectares) of land belonging to the late king. The land was found in seven different districts in and outside the Kathmandu Valley.

The trust has also acquired 142,503 units of shares bought in the name of late king Birendra and his family members. “It has been found that Birendra and his family members had bought 120,393 units of shares of Nabil Bank, 6,750 units of shares of Nepal Industrial Development Corporation and 15,360 units of shares of Hotel De l´ Annapurna,” Hada said at a meeting of Public Affairs Committee (PAC) of parliament on Friday.

She also informed that the trust has traced and acquired Rs 7,000 and 43,100 pound deposited in two different banks in Kathmandu so far.

Hada said that the trust´s efforts to find if the late king Birendra and his family members had deposited money in any foreign banks have not yielded results so far. “We have taken initiatives, through diplomatic channels and the central bank, to trace their possible bank accounts in 10 different countries but to no avail,” she said.

Hada, at the parliament committee meeting, said the trust had been confronting challenges using the property and assets acquired by it. “Though the trust has acquired buildings, land and other properties in paper, we have not been able to bring them to use,” she said.



According to her, a building at Maharajgunj being used by the security personnel deployed for the security of former kings, a building and an area of 15 ropanis of land at Chhauni being used by former King Gyanendra´s daughter Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi Singh and 68 ropanis of land occupied by Tribhuvan Adarsh Secondary School in Pharping have been transferred into the name of trust in paper but the government body has not been able to use them.

Similarly, a building along with a piece of 1,440 square meters of land at Chhauni being used by one Junu Thapa, some buildings and a ropani of land adjoining the Soaltee Hotel at Tahachal have already been transferred into the name of the trust. But the trust has not been able to use them.

Similarly, the trust has faced problems in using land in several districts across the country as land tillers, who have been tenants for many years, have protested against the government decision to transfer the property being used by them into trust.