Comrade Janardan announced a hefty increase in all kinds of taxes in his budget speech to Parliament. The grabberment cannot function without revenue, and it is good to see that it is putting our hard-earned moolah to good use by introducing new taxes. That is what we pay them for.The few Nepalis who still have disposable income will therefore not have to sit around unproductively on their non-performing asses anymore.But, fellow Romans, this is not the time to hee and haw. As we all know, the early bird gets to kill two others with one stone, which I might add, are worth more than the one in the bush that has got the worm. It is therefore time for every Nepali of taxable age to ask himself, herself and itself some wrenching questions: Is the government doing enough to enlarge the tax bracket and widen the tax net?My personal feeling (and this is entirely my opinion and does not in any way reflect the opinions, if any, of my present employers, or of those I have worked for in the past, and may work for in the future) is that it is not.The government is not doing enough. It is being complacent by evading raising taxes. The Ministry of Finance Pvt Ltd must get serious about more taxes otherwise it is never going to meet the Five-Year Plan target for extravagance, waste and corruptitude.The Department of Taxonomy must ensure that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. In the national interest it is my duty to privately leak to you the salient points of how they are going to go about doing that:<ol> 	<li>Torture. Since the Maoists were in the habit of breaking skulls and bones when they ran an underground economy and they are now in the governing coalition, Comrade Jan must revive those time-tested extortion skills. This particular technique involves physical contact at the sub-cuticular level between the taxman and the fingernails of the payee. 100% guarantee or your money back.</li> 	<li> Graft Tax. The government has also come up with a cunning plan to tax corruption with 13% VAT, 2% Service Charge and 4% National Corruption Surcharge on every kickback and bribe given or received within Nepal’s territorial jurisdiction.</li> 	<li> Capital Flight Levy. No, this does not mean we have to line up to pay airport tax again. This is a 50% tariff on all cash being smuggled inside the false bottoms of outbound passengers.</li> 	<li> Adulteration Tax. This is a levy collected by Nepal Oil Corruption at all gas stations mixing homemade liquor in the petrol. Since petrol now costs Rs180 per litre, the government should logically get its share of the loot with this new Adultery Tax.</li> 	<li> Sunshine Tax. The government has decided to introduce a syntax on sunshine at a flat rate of Rs100 per head per hour for civil servants sunning themselves in the terrace. A Lunar Tax will also be introduced for moonlighters.</li></ol>Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/symbolic-symbols/">Symbolic symbols</a>, Ass

Ass s

Taxman cometh

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4fd29c7e80680e04fd2bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2922" height="1834"/>Nepal will be evaluated for international money laundering activities by the APG (Asia Pacific Group) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during 2019, and may be blacklisted if the government does not adequately crack down on illegal cross-border money transfers.If Nepal is not able to come up with a workable mechanism to identify criminal activities and bring offenders, including prominent businesspersons and politicians, under the purview of the law by the end of 2020 it faces the danger of being blacklisted by the task force.The FATF was established in 1999 to track down and stop money laundering and funding of terrorist activities around the world. Nepal is a member of its associate organisation APG, which investigates regional member countries. With an investigation due, Nepal had hastily passed the Money Laundering Prevention Act in 2008, but took 2 years to implement it.An APG working committee evaluated Nepal, and concluded that its attempts to control money laundering were not effective enough. On February 2010, it put Nepal on an international monitoring list. Nepal then established a Money Laundering Investigation Department. With the help of the IMF and World Bank, the government created legal structures and adopted policies to prevent money laundering. After it took these steps, it was removed from the international monitoring list, which meant that it was not prohibited from doing financial transactions with other countries or international organisations.Though Nepal improved its legal stance on money laundering after the first international investigation, it does not seem to have made much progress since then in actually preventing tax evasion and money laundering.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/so-youd-like-to-do-business-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">So you’d like to do business in Nepal?</a>, Ritu Pradhan MallaIn the past, the APG had evaluated Nepal on the basis of its legal safeguards and policies. However, in future it will be looking for concrete action to see if Nepal implemented the 40 suggestions and 11 results that it made in 2010. “The next evaluation will be focused less on laws and more on implementation and results,” admits Binod Lamichhane, spokesperson of the Money Laundering Investigation Department. “So if our implementation remains as weak as it is, it could create problems for us.”Experts say the government will find it very difficult to implement its own laws because so many of those involved are powerful businessmen enjoying political protection. “If the Money Laundering Prevention Act is implemented, then politicians and officials will have a hard time showing the source of their earnings. Which is why implementaction of the Act never became a priority for Nepal. Clearly, it was created only as a showpiece to assuage foreigners,” a former director general of the department confided.Indeed, although everyone agrees that corruption and tax evasion are rampant in Nepal, there is no record of prominent persons being investigated for it. However, since the APG will be investigating on its own next year, the department has been forced to conduct its own secret probes. Director General Rup Narayan Bhattarai says he cannot speak about the investigations at the moment but according to sources, well known Nepalis, including a businessman who is expanding outside Nepal, another tycoon who created an international business network after the 2006 movement, a prominent trader accused of gold smuggling and an industrialist who suddenly switched to tourism, are under investigation.However, the going is not expected to be easy, because the Money Laundering Investigation Department lacks coordination with other powerful agencies, which is international practice and considered essential to investigate money laundering. Though the law states that Nepal Rastra Bank should coordinate with other agencies and provide information to the department about suspicious financial transactions, the implementation of this law is weak.“Since our mechanism for identifying illegal wealth is weak, we are not able to figure out if the money, property, shares, gold, etc, deposited in banks are legal or not,” says an official of the bank. “So at the moment we are unable to effectively pass on useful information.”Currently, FATF has blacklisted Iran and North Korea, while 12 countries, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Syria, are currently on its international monitoring list. Nepal risks joining these countries if the APG evaluation does not meet international criteria for transparency.

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Nepal risks being blacklisted on money laundering

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35b39c7e80680e0482c6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="696"/>An extended full bench of the Supreme Court comprising of five judges including the Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana after listing the case regarding taxation of Ncell at least 14 times for hearing announced its verdict through a written order this week.The judgment, though not devoid of reasoning, has placed reliance solely on Section 57(1) of the Income Tax to impose tax liability on Ncell and its current the largest indirect owner the Axiata Berhard Malaysia. Ncell in its subsequent press release has stated that the Axiata Group Berhard was not party to the dispute decided by the Supreme Court, and that it is further reviewing the decision without prejudice to its remedial rights. This is considered non-appealable or open to review because it is the decision of an extended full bench of the Supreme Court.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-weighs-in-on-ncell-tax-dispute/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Supreme court weighs in on Ncell tax dispute</a>, Sharad OjhaThe most important issue for the court to resolve was the tax implication in Nepal arising due to the sale of shares that consummated in St Kitts &amp; Nevis, a nation famously recognised as a tax haven. The ownership (shareholders) of Reynolds Holdings incorporated in St Kitts &amp; Nevis and holding majority shares of Ncell was changed from ‘Telia Sonera Norway Holdings’ to ‘Axiata Investment Limited’ (a company incorporated in the UK) under a Share Purchase Agreement executed outside Nepal.‘Telia Sonera Norway Holdings’ as per the Supreme Court decision is ultimately owned by ‘Telia Sonera Sweden’ and ‘Axiata Investment Limited’ is conduit company of ‘Axiata Berhard Malaysia’.Section 57(1) of the Income Tax Act applies in situations where there is change of underlying ownership of 50% or more of an entity compared to its ownership in the last three years. The Supreme Court after carefully interpreting each of these following expressions in Section 57(1) ‘entity’, ‘asset’ and ‘ownership’ comes to conclusion that Ncell is the ‘entity’, the license to provide telecommunication service the ‘asset’ and ownership change from ‘Telia Sonera Sweden’ to ‘Axiata Berhard Malaysia’ as disposing of underlying assets of Ncell.Since there has been disposal of assets, the Supreme Court further adds that, the gains should be taxed at 15% in accordance with Section 95A(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act and that the tax must be paid by Ncell and Axiata Berhard Malaysia.The Supreme Court has directed the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) to determine the exact tax amount within three months but has not clearly set a timeline for the payment of the outstanding tax liability for Ncell and Axiata Berhard Malaysia. The outstanding tax liability, in addition to Rs21 billion that Ncell has already paid before the LTO, can only be determined after tax assessment by LTO. On Tuesday, the LTO ordered Ncell to pay additional of Rs39 billion in taxes by 22 April.The decision of the Supreme Court, even though a pronounced assertion to ensure taxation of offshore transaction in Nepal has relied on Section 57(1) with marked intention to impose tax liability on Ncell, but it has left more questions unanswered than it settles.There are few questions an investor especially a foreign investor would seek more clarity. Will Section 57(1) get attracted even in cases where the change of shareholding by selling of shares is less than 50%? What if the period of change of ownership is more than three years? Will the Company which shares are being transferred be held liable to pay tax even in situation where the seller pays the capital gains tax? Most important of all, will share sale transactions occurring outside Nepal having the effect of changing of ownership of Company in Nepal be taxed? Or lastly, will the taxation in Nepal of an offshore transaction be pursued under certain prescribed criteria?During the entire episode of taxation of Ncell, neither the government nor Parliament took any substantive measures to reform laws to establish the principles and criteria of taxing an offshore transaction having implication in Nepal. Further, the evident wavering position of government added to the conundrum. This is appalling especially in light of entered Bilateral Investment Treaties which require Nepal to provide fair and equitable treatment to foreign investors. Nepal has such a Treaty with the UK and one of the current indirect shareholders of Ncell Axiata Investment Limited is a company incorporated in the UK.The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2019 only imposes a notification obligation to notify the share transfer or sale of foreign investment company occurring outside Nepal. A judicial remedy on taxation matters creates uncertainty and unpredictability about its implication on future offshore transaction and therefore it is time for the government and Parliament to take steps to pass legislative enactments that are predictable and follow established principles to cover offshore transactions.An opportunity is forthcoming. The Finance Act 2019 to be promulgated in June can make amendments to the Income Tax Act.Semanta Dahal is an advocate. @the3rdbranch

Ncell ruling opens a can of worms

<figure><img width="1400" height="934" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a28bf9c7e80680e04588cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: SETOPATI</figcaption></figure>The terror attack on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-weighs-in-on-ncell-tax-dispute/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ncell</a> head office in Lalitpur that cost the life of Sing Prasad Gurung and seriously injured three others on the night of 22 February proved that the Nepal conflict never really ended.The ten year war cost 17,000 lives, left tens of thousands injured, and 1,400 disappeared. Thirteen years after the war ended, one more innocent civilian was killed last week. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terror attack leaves tragedy in its wake</a>, Sonia AwaleA hardline faction of the Maoist party led by Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav) has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/yes-we-put-that-bomb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owned up to the attack</a>, and said the death was ‘unfortunate’. Chand used to be close to the current Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/06/20/ballot-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">but never took part in elections</a>, accusing his former comrades of ditching the revolution.On the night of the attack on Ncell, the party also set fire to a dozen of the Malaysian-owned company’s cell phone towers across the country, causing damage worth millions and cutting off communications to a large swathe of the country. There was shock and dismay in the Nepali cybersphere following the attack, with a lot of the scorn heaped on the government for not bothering to issue a statement or commiserate with the bereaved Gurung family. Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22173&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stop the extortion</a>, From the Nepali Press<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/extortion-in-a-federal-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Extortion in a federal state</a>, From the Nepali Press<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/yes-we-put-that-bomb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Yes, we put that bomb”</a>, From the Nepali Press‘A foreign ambassador condemned the terroist attack, but our own prime minister did not utter a word. He hasn’t visited the family to offer his condolences,’ wrote Salokya in a <a href="http://www.mysansar.com/2019/02/35013/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hard-hitting blog</a> in the portal mysansar.com  ‘We often wish that others would not comment on our internal affairs, but what do we do when we ourselves do not speak up at a time like this.’   <img width="1250" height="1367" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a28c29c7e80680e04588djpeg.jpg" alt="">Journalist Girish Giri, whose father was killed while mayor of Birganj in 2004 for ignoring a Maoist ransom demand for Rs500,000 attached a copy of the extortion letter, and wrote in a Tweet: ‘Don’t those who are barking ‘I will whack you for extorting’ now have to answer for killing my upright father precisely for not coughing up five lakhs? Or are these rulers going to keep on barking?’ (See screenshot above)Indeed, Nepal’s social media has erupted with accusations against the Biplav group attacking Ncell as part of a nationwide extortion racket that to many is reminiscent of the war years. Some have wryly noted the similarity between the Nepali word for ‘donation’ (chanda) and the surname of Netra Bikram Chand. In a BBC Nepali interview, Maoist leader Hemanta Oli said this week: “A life was lost, but little things like that happen in revolutions. We do not deliberately target people. It was an accident.”Many have also remarked that the ex-Maoists in the unified Nepal Communist Party (NCP) cannot really blame the Biplav faction of extortion and terror because those were very tactics they themselves used in the past. Although Biplav’s former bodyguard was reportedly detained on Wednesday, the NCP’s former Maoist home minister has shown no real inclination to go after a group that has unleashed a wave of terror nationwide.  By their silence, the former UML members of the NCP have shown they are also complicit in not going after the perpetrators. Although the UML is probably the least guilty of human rights violations during the war, its members have lost moral standing by not even condemning the attack.Many senior UML leaders had thought that uniting with the Maoists would moderate the former guerrillas, but it is now looking more and more like the UML itself has been subsumed by the Maoists. Pushpa Kamal Dahal earned legitimacy from the unification with the UML, returned to a position of power after elections in 2017 that he would have lost if the Maoists had contested alone, and he managed to muffle accusations of war crimes.  For its part, the UML by uniting with the Maoists has sacrificed its social democratic credentials, and its silence in not condemning last Friday’s terror bomb speaks louder than words. The UML’s strong party structure has been compromised, its local committees are in limbo.Meanwhile, the Maoists within the NCP are not socialised into democratic functioning and essentially remain a sub-party taking orders only from Dahal and not from Oli. In fact, the ex-Maoists are doing everything in their power to embarrass the former UML, and have let Oli be their lightning rod.  The Home Ministry which should have been the first-responder in last week’s bomb attack and arson on telecom towers is run by a Maoist commandant-turned-minister who used to be Biplav’s buddy. He is the last person to go after the one who gave the order to bomb Ncell and kill Sing Prasad Gurung.It is time Prime Minister Oli defended the social democratic values his party once stood for, reshuffle his Cabinet to get a minister with cleaner democratic credentials, and if need be, start thinking about post-nuptial arrangements.

Kunda Dixit

It’s a crime not to call it terrorism

<figure><img width="1250" height="932" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a28b69c7e80680e045889jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NAGARIK</figcaption></figure>Editorial in Nagarik, 26 FebruaryThe Nepal Communist Party Maoist led by Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav) has resorted to violence in over a dozen locations to set fire to Ncell towers. A civilian has already lost his life, and two more are wounded. These incidents cannot be taken lightly. The government must strongly stop this violence. The Biplav faction has tried to justify its action by claiming that it wants to punish Ncell for failing to pay capital gains tax. But the reality is different. This is a repeat of the Maoist conflict during which people who refused to pay up could be killed.Netra Bikram Chand was close to the current Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa who may still have a soft spot for him. It remains to be seen if the Home Ministry will prosecute this case strongly. So far, the government seems to be hurt more by a few bitter words in social media than by such heinous acts.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terror attack leaves tragedy in its wake</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22190&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It’s a crime not to call it terrorism</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://extortion%20in%20a%20federal%20state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Extortion in a federal state</a>“<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22189&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yes, we put that bomb</a>”

Stop the extortion

<figure><img width="1400" height="931" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a28b99c7e80680e04588ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: SETOPATI</figcaption></figure>Kantipur, 26 FebruaryThe Nepal Communist Party Maoist led by Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav) has been sending letters to all rural municipalities of Province 5, demanding 2% of their development budgets. The letters claim to spend the money to install ‘scientific socialism’ as an alternative to parliamentary democracy.Many local level elected representatives are said to have already paid up, some from their personal coffers, others using their development budget. In a public hearing in Rupandehi recently, a municipality chief admitted to having paid Rs50,000 to the Maoists. The Biplav faction has been asking for three different types of donations: 2% of the development budget, up to Rs500,000 lump sum from the salaries of elected representatives, and a tender worth Rs10 million.Many local administrations in Gulmi have been extorted. After rising pressure, municipality chiefs have got local administration officers to pay off the Maoists. Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terror attack leaves tragedy in its wake</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22190&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It’s a crime not to call it terrorism</a>The party has also demanded 2% of the development budgets from six municipalities and two rural municipalities of Bardia. Party sources reveal that teachers and contractors have also been approached for donations.Although the problem is rampant in Dang, officers there do not want to talk about it. Some are giving what is asked, while others are trying to bargain it down.Mim Bahadur Gharti Magar of Rolpa municipality said the Maoists demanded a month’s salary from him, and half the infrastructure budgets from other local governments.Businesses in Banke are also being extorted. Said one trader: “We got a letter demanding money, it is sad that we are facing extortion and threats once again.”Read also: <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22173&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stop the extortion</a>“<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22189&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yes, we put that bomb</a>”

Extortion in a federal state

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a28bc9c7e80680e04588bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1222"/><figcaption>Photo: SETOPATI</figcaption></figure>Interview in BBC Nepali service, 24 FebruaryThe Nepali Communist Party Maoist led by Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav) hs owned up to the Ncell bomb that killed one person in Lalitpur on Friday. The party’s central committee member Hemanta Prakash Oli spoke to Gani Ansari of BBC Nepali Service on Sunday evening. Excerpts:BBC Nepali: Why did you set off the bomb?Hemanta Prakash Oli: The blast was a retaliation against the company evading capital gains tax. A life was lost, but little things like that happen in revolutions. We are sad.How can you call that little? A man lost his life.No, we did not say this was a little incident.But that is exactly what you just said. I said such things might happen. But we do not target people, it was an accident. We are very sad about the loss of life, and have already expressed our condolences.Can you bring back this person’s life by saying sorry?The lives of thousands who died in Syria cannot be brought back either.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22190&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It’s a crime not to call it terrorism</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://Extortion in a federal state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Extortion in a federal state</a>Instead of violence there are other ways to address tax issues.No government agency has paid any attention to this looting. The judiciary is itself tainted. We have declared a parallel government because this one is unjust.The state has threatened to come down heavily on your party.If the government reacts to injustice with injustice, the Nepali people will retaliate strongly. We will demolish the state and establish a new state structure.How many more innocent people will have to die to fulfil your political ambition? This is a question that we should ask Prachanda, Baburam and Badal as well. They took 17,000 lives unnecessarily. They should be punished. And we will be more careful that such accidents do not happen again.Why could you not wait for dialogue before resorting to violence? The government does not want to negotiate with us. What we want to talk about is that 17,000 people sacrificed their lives for the revolution and we controlled 80% of Nepal. We had a strong army of 40,000. We want to reinstate the revolution. We are ready to negotiate on these terms. We wanted revolutionary change, but instead of class struggle, we had class reconciliation. Our leaders joined with reactionaries and rose to power.People also say this is all about extortion.Do not believe these rumours. We did not take up this risky path of revolution for a few donations.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terror attack leaves tragedy in its wake</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=22173&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stop the extortion</a>

“Yes, we planted that bomb”

<img width="1050" height="696" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101144/636a25c89c7e80680e0439dfjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The Supreme Court’s verdict on Wednesday requiring the Malaysian company Axiata and Ncell Nepal to pay billions capital gains tax on their purchase of Nepal’s largest private telecom provider Ncell will end a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/06/03/taxing-time-for-ncell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversy</a> that has dragged on for three years, but is expected to further chill <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/making-nepal-fdi-friendly,853" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal’s foreign investment climate</a>.A full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana decided after two days of hearings that Reynolds Holdings Ltd was a shell company and the real owner of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/05/16/the-tax-in-question/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ncell</a> was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/12/21/axiata-buys-80-stake-in-ncell/comment-page-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axiata</a>, and it was liable to pay the tax along with Ncell Nepal.Justices Rana, Mira Khadka, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Tanka Bahadur Moktan were deliberating on a public interest litigation writ filed by former secretary and advocate Dwarika Nath Dhungel and six others that Ncell Nepal and Axiata were responsible to pay capital gains tax when they bought the company from the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/Nepal-very,1104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Swedish-Finnish telecom company TeliaSonera</a> in 2016.When TeliaSonera sold Reynolds Holdings shares in Ncell to Axiata for over $1 billion, Nepal’s Large Tax-payers’ Office had said Reynolds owed the government Rs35 billion in taxes and demanded it pay the amount and fines to a total of Rs61 billion.Ncell Nepal refused to pay that full amount, and transferred only Rs21 billion capital gains tax. After this, the writ was filed, and the Supreme Court on Wednesday also rejected a case filed by Ncell.The case became controversial after two foreign investors traded ownership of a Nepal-based telecom company. Since TeliaSonera has already left Nepal, the Court found that the buyer is liable to pay capital gains tax if the seller did not.Senior advocate Surendra Bhandari says that it is international practice that the seller has to pay capital gains tax on any sale of assets, but says the Supreme Court is right in assessing that the seller was allowed to leave the country without paying tax and to put the onus on the buyer.Wednesday decision now sets a precedent for the buyer to also be responsible for paying capital gains tax. Officials at the Internal Revenue Service say that although the country’s treasury will benefit from the tax payment, there has been no investigation into why the seller was allowed to get away without paying taxes, and fears that the case will have negative repercussions on future investment.Eighty percent of Ncell’s ownership is with Reylonds Holding registered in the British Virgin Islands and 20% with Niraj Govinda Shrestha. Ncell’s main promoter was Reynolds Holding through TeliaSonera’s office in Norway.According to Nepal’s tax laws, TeliaSonera’s sale of Ncell to Axiata had a capital gains tax liability of Rs35 billion. Axiata had written to the Internal Revenue Office before the sale if it was liable to pay capital gains tax in Nepal, but there was no reply from its director at the time, Chudamani Sharma.After that the tax controversy got mired in politics, with various party leaders and former CIAA chief <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/parliament-and-court-plays,822" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lokman Singh Karki</a> vying for underhand deals that would let the guilty go free. Says advocate Bhandari: “The Supreme Court decision seems to be driven by the logic that any buyer should first inquire about the liabilities of the seller before any purchase.”However, other retired revenue officials say it is unfair to blame Axiata, and ask it to pay capital gains tax that should have been paid by TeliaSonera. He says the really guilty party here are the politicians who allowed TeliaSonera to leave without paying taxes, and this will dim Nepal’s investment climate just before an Investment Summit planned for next month, and after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/to-davos-with-hammer-and-sickle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prime Minister KP Oli’s visit to Davos</a> with the message that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/crony-communism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal was open for business</a>.The Surpeme Court verdict has also exposed a loophole in Nepal’s tax laws that allows shell companies to get away without paying taxes. TeliaSonera had its dividends frozen in Nepal by the Large Tax-payers’ Office, but the Supreme Court allowed the company to repatriate its profits.   According to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-in-tax-havens-swiss-banks-money-laundering/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Leaks exposes</a> by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Ncell owners had used the company to launder money as foreign direct investment. Ajeya Raj Sumargi, a businessman close to the former Maoist party and Birendra Mahato of the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal and brother of billionaire overseas Nepali Upendra Mahato were implicated in documents leaked through the Panama Papers about tax havens.The verdict this week opens the door for Nepal to tax FDI that is coming in from offshore tax havens.   Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/making-nepal-fdi-friendly,853" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making Nepal FDI friendly,</a> Shyamal K Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=962#.XFwMylUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fight for FDI</a>, Ashutosh Tiwari<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Ncell-has-complied-to-all-obligations,3047" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Ncell has obliged to all obligations"</a>

Supreme Court weighs in on Ncell tax dispute

Architecture can be a powerful agent of change, shaping not just spaces but the way people live, connect, and experience the world.&nbsp; For Nepal, which is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">gifted by nature</a> and rich in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ambassador-fund-cultural-preservation-nepal,2092">cultural heritage</a>, &nbsp;reviving rural architecture with modern amenities could hold the key to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism </a>that benefits local people more. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award">Design and architecture</a> are amazing tools to create a unique experience for visitors,” says Spanish architect Tomeu Esteva of Esteva i Esteva Architecture Studio. “Difficult destinations have beautiful hotels with design and comfort.” Esteva was in Kathmandu with his colleagues at an event organised by the Spanish Honorary Consulate at Dwarika’s Hotel last week to showcase buildings which Nepali architects can adapt with local material and design inputs.&nbsp; Rural architecture holds a unique significance: it is more than a shelter and must reflect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inking-an-idenity">local identity, culture</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-humla-from-heritage-loss">heritage</a>. An area’s natural and cultural harmony can be upset by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure?fbclid=IwAR1wK0MDFlFST_2EYb3f54LS4-fPt6rYfLG1DJ1JaQsU3w8-ezyXIxGOqzk">poorly planned development</a>, speakers at the event said, but the environment can be improved and revitalised by well-integrated structures.&nbsp; Another Spanish architect, Belen Moneo, has designed hotels at elevations of 3,700m in her home country Spain that supply natural spring water spas. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction">Creativity in construction</a> must be encouraged. Rural architecture always shows possibilities of what we can do better,” Moneo explains, adding that designs must enhance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-healing-power-of-nature">the beauty of nature</a> and give a natural feel at a time when steel, glass and cement dominate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rebuilding-kathmandu-after-the-1934-quake">urban design</a>.&nbsp; This is why the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/weaving-nature-into-craft">use of natural products</a> such as bamboo, local timber, straw and rammed earth are in demand from customers who want a fresh eco-friendly look encouraged in construction of rural architectural structures. The demand for boutique hotels has increased world over, with &nbsp;more and more tourists favouring aesthetics, experience and comfort over price. While creativity is an important part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/architecture-for-mountains">construction and architecture</a>, incentives to build and use <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Building,370">rural construction materials</a> still remain minimal, and Moneo emphasises the significance of design and execution.&nbsp; Esteva helped design the Vana Retreat in Dehradun that kept the natural environment in focus, with the structure giving an elaborate aesthetic experience to visitors. Another example is Hotel Las Mercedes in the Dominican Republic which was designed and constructed by Moneo and the company she co-founded Moneo Brock, respecting and revaluing the traditional architecture of the area. Hotels providing such experience could attract tourists and revenue. The Spanish ambassador to Nepal Juan Antonio March Pujol said, “The role of architecture and architects in developing tourism is crucial, not only in urban areas but rural settings as well.”&nbsp; The concept of rural boutique hotels gained traction in Spain during the 1990s, particularly in regions like Majorca with economic and environmental sustainability as the main focus. In Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/guiding-nepal-s-tourism-industry">the tourism industry</a> directly employs about 1 million people, and makes up about 8% of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the stone homes of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/reviving-himalayan-vulture-and-culture">Mustang and Manang</a>, bamboo and mud structures of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and the Kathmandu Valley’s terra cotta tile skylines, graceful temples, and tranquil bahal courtyards are all examples of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-traditional-seismic-resistant-designs">Nepal’s traditional architecture</a>.&nbsp; Nepali architect Sarosh Pradhan has been working for the past eight years on the Brakka Village project in Manang Valley north of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna">the Annapurnas</a>. Other examples of this kind of rural architecture for high-end tourism are the Shinta Mani Hotel in Mustang and Khumbu Lodge below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a>. Says Pradhan, “There are places in Nepal that radiate purity and embrace simplicity. Creating projects in such settings require deep reflection and thoughtful planning.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="2184" loading="lazy" alt="A new architecture for Nepal's tourism"> </figure>  Rural architecture is not easy, and sometimes more expensive. Inflation, energy efficiency, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">the climate crisis</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">increased costs of living</a> pose obstacles to sustainable rural architecture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal</a>, Anne Feenstra and Varun S Bapu Esteva says faith and trust between client and architect is necessary for any project to be successful. He adds that architects must practice being humble, the process of designing always involves learning and not imposing their ideas on clients. Nepal is uniquely positioned for the growth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-up-the-benefits-of-tourism">rural tourism</a> because of its stunning countryside as well as its internationally renowned traditions in holistic wellness. Creating infrastructure that is small, thoughtfully planned and that respects both tradition and contemporary hospitality standards is crucial. “Projects in Nepal can be made cost effective by using materials from houses that have been brought down,” says Esteva. “Pilot projects involving <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local people </a>and simple designing also helps the process.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vacant-homes-become-homestays-in-nepal">The growth of homestays in Nepal</a> is a step in the right direction, but they are still a bit too rustic for the international traveller who also wants comfort and is willing to pay extra for it. Upgrading the facilities in homestays and ensuring that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">architectural heritage</a> of the locality is preserved using locally sourced building material could allow owners to charge more. Says Sangita Shrestha of Dwarika’s Hotel, “Our effort is to build upon rural architecture by empowering local communities and using what is available locally. We can fine tune and encourage indigenous design and training.” The vision goes beyond just boosting the economy, it is about building a future where tourism helps villages grow in a healthy and lasting way. Instead of using up resources, it gives back to the land and the people. It supports local communities by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs"> creating jobs</a>, improving infrastructure, and protecting natural beauty. When done right, tourism can be a tool for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">preserving culture and nature</a>, not harming them. Architects must therefore see their work as more than just designing buildings, they also need to care deeply about people and places, especially in rural areas that can benefit the most.&nbsp; With global interest in sustainable and off-the-beaten-path travel increasing, Nepal stands at the cusp of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">tourism transformation</a> that values community-driven, eco-conscious hospitality. A mix of modern ideas and traditional knowledge could transform rural tourism in Nepal. Says Shrestha, “Young architects should spend time with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/the-unsung-heroes-of-conservation">local and indigenous communities</a>, listen to their stories, and learn from their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">ways of living</a>. These communities have deep knowledge about the land, materials, and climate. If this wisdom is used in new designs, it can help create tourism spaces that truly benefit everyone.” &nbsp;

A new architecture for Nepal's tourism

Extract from an addendum to Nepal's Two Wars, Chapter 2 in the updated edition of Essays on Nepal: Past and Present by Sam Cowan, a retired British Army general with a long association with the Gurkhas. The book was first published in 2018, and republished earlier this month by FinePrint exclusively on Amazon. The addendum details a one-to-one conversation the author had in the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8884">Royal Palace </a>with the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">King Gyanendra</a> in November 2002 just after he had taken his initial steps on the road that ultimately led to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14681">the abolition of the monarchy</a> in Nepal in 2008. In the early evening of September 16, 2002, in my role as Colonel Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas, I had my second and last official audience with King Gyanendra to give him an update on the Brigade’s activities over the previous 12 months. I had some 6 or 7 such audiences with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendra-s-family-home">King Birendra</a>.&nbsp; These were official affairs with the British ambassador of the day present, along with key <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12233">palace officials</a> and a representative from Nepal's Foreign Ministry. The two monarchs were very different in character and temperament, but both treated me with the utmost civility and made the audiences as relaxed and easy for me as possible.&nbsp; It is, however, worth recording that when the official business had been covered, King Birendra, with a twinkle in his eye, often ended by asking, “Now General, what’s the gossip in London?” The second audience with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8026">King Gyanendra </a>was my last official act in uniform. We came back to Kathmandu in the first week of November (after treks) to stay for a few nights with our Defence Attaché before heading back to the UK. Waiting for me was a message from the Palace saying that King Gyanendra would like to meet me informally: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6933">no uniform</a> and no ambassador.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2406" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra crowned page 1"> <figcaption>Nepali Times Special Edition of 6-14 June 2001 with enthronement of Gyanendra. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1857" loading="lazy" alt="Royal massacre"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 22-29 June 2001 covering the royal massacre after which Gyanendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  Although I had no idea what the purpose of the meeting might be, events in Kathmandu since I last saw the king put me on edge. On October 4, 2002, Gyanendra had dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, allegedly for failing to hold <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-goes-on-in-nepal-s-elections">elections</a>. He had put in place a new prime minister and a cabinet personally selected by him. When I heard the news on my travels, the people I met were generally supportive of the king’s actions. There was a general view that something had to be done, the country was going nowhere, and the king deserved his chance, not least to solve<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal"> the Maoist </a>problem. Back in Kathmandu, views were not so sanguine. The chosen prime minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, was a relic from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">the Panchayat period</a> whose party had failed to win a single seat in the last elections held in 1999. Some of the chosen cabinet ministers had, to put it mildly, dubious reputations, and others had no record of proven competence in any field. There was a fear that the king’s real motive in dismissing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/deubas-denouement">Deuba</a> was to start to reverse the democratic gains made since 1990. I informed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-britain-mark-centenary-of-1923-treaty">the British ambassador</a> about the invitation. He was strongly against accepting it, which was probably the clinching reason for my decision to do the polite thing and accept it. On the evening of November 7, 2002, I presented myself at the royal palace, alone and in civilian attire.&nbsp; As in the past, the Military Secretary, Major General Vivek Shah, met and escorted me into the presence of the monarch. This time, however, he was politely asked to leave the room and shut the door behind him. King Gyanendra greeted me warmly and invited me to sit down.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal"> The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="993" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra coup"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 4-10 February 2005 after king Gyanendra's coup imposed media censorship. anendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  I had wondered, and to be truthful, had worried, not just about the purpose of the meeting, but about how the conversation might start and develop. I reduced my resolve to two points: be polite but speak candidly. The latter resolve was quickly put to the test with the king’s opening words: “Sam, [in previous meetings it had been ‘General’, you walk the highways and byways of this land more than most, tell me what the common man is thinking?” &nbsp;“Your Majesty, I have no idea what they are thinking, but they are waiting.” “Waiting?” “Yes, Your Majesty, they are waiting to see whether what you did some weeks ago in appointing your own prime minister and cabinet ministers is going to make any difference to their lives or whether it is just going to be more Kathmandu hot air.” “Everything is going to be difficult and is going to take time, a lot of time.” “Your Majesty, time is the one thing you don’t have. You must act quickly and decisively to take advantage of the opportunity you have created. Everyone knows that you have appointed these new ministers. Why don’t you get them in here one by one and tell them that they have three months to deliver a programme in their area of responsibility that is going to make a difference to people’s lives? Most will fail to do so. Sack them! It will be a powerful signal of your strong intent to deliver real change.” I can express the opening of our conversation in this way because just about every word is still etched in my mind. The king’s response to my last quoted words was to challenge me to give an example of something that could be delivered quickly. I can give a verbatim record of what I said in response to this unexpected challenge: “Health posts, Your Majesty, there is no shortage of them throughout the country as building them has been one of the sources of local corruption, but very few have any medicine to issue at present or have skilled people to assess and meet medical needs. Your Majesty, children are dying for lack of a few pills. Given the right priority, over a period, say of six months, every health post could be fully stocked with medicine and manned with trained people. This is something I could help to lead for you as I know it would have strong international backing. At last, people would know that you mean business.” As I warmed to the theme, I could see no sign of the king having any enthusiasm for the idea, and I quickly disengaged as it dawned on me, as it had clearly dawned on the king, that the reason for the deficiencies in health posts was to prevent any Maoist combatant from gaining access to any <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-health-tech-industry-is-here-to-stay">medical support</a>, and if this meant people suffering, so be it. The subject of the Maoist insurgency inevitably came up, and I took the opportunity to elaborate on what is written in the final four paragraphs of the article above. I advised King Gyanendra that, self-evidently, since there were three parties in the conflict—him, the Maoists, and the political parties—it was imperative that he form an alliance with one of them, preferably the political parties; otherwise, he would find himself isolated, as the other two parties would inevitably, at some stage, form their own alliance. However, it quickly became apparent that the king’s mind was on a totally different track. On the Maoists, he told me that he had channels open to them, but he was scathing about the political party leaders. He made it clear that they would be waiting for a very long time before he gave any power back to them, and that is a polite way of expressing the actual words he used, but “crawling through the door” is a phrase which has stuck in my mind.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1317" loading="lazy" alt="fall of monarchy"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 28 April-3 May 2005 with cover image by Ajay Joshi of jubilant protesters after street demonstrations sidelined king Gyanendra, paving the way for a ceasfire and restoration of democracy. </figcaption> </figure>  As the conversation developed, it became ever clearer that King Gyanendra had decided to go in alone, relying on the misleading assurances he was constantly receiving from <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14954">the army</a>, and no doubt his close advisers, that the Maoists could and would be quickly defeated militarily, and taken out of the equation. This would obviate the need for him to do any deal with the political parties.&nbsp; Thus, the way would be clear for him to establish a version of his father’s Panchayat system, under a constitution that would be granted to the people by him, their sovereign, as his father and brother had done in 1962 and 1990. As in those constitutions, ultimate power would have remained in the sovereign’s hands. This proposed direction of travel was very clear from what the king said to me. In sum, King Gyanendra was motivated by a desire to emulate his immediate predecessors by granting his people a constitution that would restore his father’s Panchayat system in a modern form and give him a central role in decision-making. What was particularly dispiriting was that beyond this single objective he had no plan worthy of the name, nor demonstrably did he have the people with the skills to implement an appropriate plan even if one had existed. Crucially and depressingly, there was little or no indication from the king that he realised that such a course of action could put Nepal’s monarchy into serious jeopardy, as indeed proved to be the case. <h2>King Twice</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445" data-rendition-name="original" width="1302" height="632" loading="lazy" alt="“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”"> </figure>  <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah has been king twice</a>. In 1950 he was enthroned briefly as a child king (left, above) by the Rana Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher when his grandfather, King Tribhuvan, fled to exile in India. In 2001 he was crowned king again after the massacre in the royal palace in which his brother King Birendra and nine other members of his family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra.&nbsp; During his second reign, Gyanendra gradually asserted power by sacking Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2002, and then taking full control after the 1 February 2005 coup. He was sidelined after the ceasefire in April 2006, and became a commoner after the Constituent Assembly finally <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Ftnp-abolishing,624">abolished the monarchy in 2008</a>. In the past year, Gyanendra has tried to exploit public dissatisfaction with the political parties to restore the monarchy.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Essays on Nepal by Sam Cowen"> </figure>

“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”

“It's Kathmandu.” Just as the family was sitting down for one of its extended lunches, that jubilant cry was from François Driard’s grandfather announcing the next posting for his diplomat parents.&nbsp; Driard (pictured) was 18 in the summer of 1996,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/chasing-a-nomad"> a bit of a hippie</a> already, and his life was about to change forever with the magical word “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">Kathmandu</a>”. “I was awed with that information from my grandfather, nothing else mattered … In France <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tales-of-courage-and-suffering-cx95f89e">in the 1990s</a>, Kathmandu had a mythical aura,” Driard recalls. He came to Kathmandu for Christmas that year to visit his stepfather, the French Ambassador Michel Lummaux. It was to be the first of many visits during school holidays, before he decided to permanently settle down in Nepal. “Kathmandu, and Nepal, were very different then, it was magical, I liked the nature, the people, civilisation, temples, trees,” says Driard, who explored the country sitting on the top of buses. “Visitors talk about the crazy <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">urbanisation</a>, traffic jams today, and all that is true. But Kathmandu has not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/loss-of-soul-and-soil">lost its soul</a>.” After his stepfather’s tenure in Nepal ended, Driard worked as a business reporter for international publications but decided he did not want to be anyone’s employee anymore. In 2007 he landed in Kathmandu with €20,000 in savings to invest.&nbsp; He knew a few crucial things about himself: he liked food and nature, which is very much tied up with his upbringing--full of lively conversations during lunch and dinner at the family table between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-yak-cheese-is-on-world-map">abundant cheese, wine and cigars</a>. So he decided it would be cheese, and registered Himalayan French Cheese and went to the French Alps for a month to learn how to make Tomme de Savoie. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-story-of-langtang-cheese">Cheese making is such an ancient craft </a>and so I thought I won’t need much money or studying which I hated and indeed, if you have a tamako bhado and fire you are set,” explains Driard. But Nepal’s temperature and humidity were not ideal, even at higher altitudes. The first customers for his cheese were the Hyatt Regency and Nina and Hager. But he needed to create a market for cheese in a country which only knew hard churpi in the north and soft paneer in the south. He started selling his cheeses at the Summit Hotel weekend market, expanding to his own 1905 Farmer’s Market which later moved to Le Sherpa in Maharajganj, where it is now, and also a market at Labim Mall in Pulchok. He had cow dairies in Nuwakot and Dhulikhel, and finally a yak cheese unit at 3,379m in Ramechhap. It was the yak blue cheese from here that went on to win a Gold Medal in France, putting Nepal’s French cheese on the world map. “People come and try our cheese at the market, they ask questions. There is a lot of education to be done about cheese,” adds Driard, who also has three cheese shops in the Valley. Driard now makes 25 types of cheese. The products are being noticed and every year he has French students coming to Nepal to learn the art of yak cheese making. “In France, one family or company makes one kind of cheese for generations. In that I’m very unique as a cheese artisan,” he says. “The students come in to learn but I tell them to also teach us something too, add another cheese to my collection.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/langtang-after-10-years">Langtang after 10 years</a>, Sonia Awale Being a foodie, Driard is now also dabbling in meat with his own charcuterie at Meatini with bacon, ham, sausage and pâtés. All of this is now served at his Emilio’s Pizza, a leafy hideaway in Lazimpat. His South Side in Moksh is probably the smallest wine bar in the world. “I call the process sublime,” says Driard of his ventures, which have grown organically. “You need the same temperature and humidity of 12°C and 80% for cheese, meat and wine.” Emilio’s speciality is the eight-cheese pizza (which has eight types of cheeses), and a pizza with bhutan topping (not the country but fried intestines and organs Nepali-style). He has opened a small branch at Courtyard in Pokhara.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="8 cheese pizza"> <figcaption>Eight-cheese pizza</figcaption> </figure>  With two artisanal cheese units, two farmers’ markets, a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-meat-of-the-story">meat processing unit</a>, a bakery, and wine bar he now envisions a vineyard so he can add Nepali wine to his repertoire. Another future plan is to start up an agri-tourism business where customers can drink, eat and work in peace. In the past 20 years in Nepal, Driard has not always succeeded in his ventures but this hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He is learning as he goes, and like an old wine, Nepal is growing on him. Its slowness suits his French art de vivre with eating slowly outdoors, having conversation, importing less.&nbsp; “I have proven that with even a little money you can do a lot of things in Nepal,” adds Driard. “In the West, they easily invest half a million euros on a cheese factory, I invested 10 times less.”&nbsp;

Fromage, vin et charcuterie Népalais

Bhuthan भुठान starts with Bishnu Bahadur KC played by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/dhuwa-smoke-telefilm,2671">Hari Bansha Acharya</a> on a call, requesting to speak to the visa officer. By this point, he had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival">applied for a visa </a>to Bhutan 10 times, but was denied each time. KC was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-women-excel-in-sports-in-2024-z9ramyct">national football player </a>in Bhutan in 1988 before he and other Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people were forced out of the country in the 1990s as part of the Druk regime’s ‘One Nation One People’ campaign. Over 100,000 Bhutanese Nepalis were forced out, driven across India and dumped in Nepal where they lived in seven<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp"> refugee camps</a> supervised by the United Nations and other charities until they were resettled in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries starting in 2007. In the fictional movie with the satirical English title The World’s Happiest Man, KC has resettled in the state of Ohio in the US but wishes to visit his home country once before he dies. Between flashbacks, we learn KC has died without having fulfilled his wish. &nbsp; The drama then focuses on KC’s two families from two marriages as they debate whether to cremate him as per <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/muslim-hindu,2996">Hindu rites </a>or give him a Christian burial. A mediator played by Hollywood actor Bruce Dern urges them to take a firm decision before it is too long.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="945" height="945" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  There are drawn out scenes of KC being baptised and when he is confronted by his first wife from Darjeeling played by Anuradha Majumdar, he says he changed his religion in the hope that he will be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/bhutan-s-refugees-between-hope-and-despair">allowed back in Bhutan</a>.&nbsp; We find out KC has a second wife, a Christian Nepali played by Puja Chand. Dayahang Rai as the younger son doesn’t have much screen time to flex his acting chops. &nbsp; Acharya competently portrays a man that is equal parts haunted by the memories of and longing for his home country. KC’s pain and loss is acute when he is teaching football to Gungun but between mid-scene, he freezes, perhaps lost in memories of being in Bhutan’s national team. &nbsp; In another scene, KC recalls his mother singing a lullaby in Dzongkha. He also has a box filled with medals, photographs and a football which he deflates with a knife in a powerful depiction of his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home?fb_comment_id=1506516030025634">complicated emotions about his homeland</a>. KC keeps checking his mailbox in the hopes that his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4977">visa application</a> has been accepted. He says in Nepali: “If a tree that has already struck roots in one place is shifted to another, it will not survive.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34" data-rendition-name="original" width="1422" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  Dern’s character says that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">western world</a> has become “lonely in pursuit of happiness”, another reference to Bhutan’s obsession with its Gross National Happiness index. Scenes shift quickly throughout making the story difficult to follow at times. The use of symbolism is a trite overdone. Nonetheless, भुठान is a nuanced depiction of raw pain and agony of losing one’s homeland. But one cannot help but leave the theatre feeling deflated. KC dies without having visited <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-bhutan-dreams-big">Bhutan</a>, but perhaps he does in his afterlife. It is up to the audience to create its own ending to this sad story of exile. भुठान Mad Monkey Films, 2025 Directed by Binod Paudel 102 minutes In cinemas in Nepal