Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has said that TeliaSonera, the majority shareholder in telecom giant Ncell, can repatriate the dividends it has earned in Nepal after submitting a complete document regarding its capital investment in the country.

Addressing a meeting of the parliamentary Development Committee on Tuesday, NRB Governor Chiranjibi Nepal said that the central bank had sought documents from TeliaSonera showing its investment at the time it entered Nepal.

“NRB is clear over this issue. We have sought complete information which is lacking. We have repeatedly asked the company to submit detailed information. However, the information it has provided is not complete,” Nepal said.

TeliaSonera has been trying for a long time to repatriate Rs11 billion in dividends  as of 2011-12.

Documents at the Department of Industry (DoI) reveal the company invested Rs100 million when it entered Nepal. As per the DoI’s data, Rs80 million came in the form of foreign direct investment and TeliaS-onera’s local partner Neeraj Govinda Shrestha invested the remaining Rs20 million.

“However, the company has not been able to show how the Rs80 million was invested,” said Bhisma Raj Dhungana, executive director of NRB. “The company has submitted detailed information regarding investments amounting to Rs60 million, and we are waiting for them to produce paperwork about the remaining Rs20 million.”

NRB officials said they had also sought information about TeliaSonera’s investment in Ncell from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). The regulatory body said that it had no clear information which made the central bank more cautious over allowing the company to repatriate dividends. However, Ncell CEO Erim Taylanlar said the company had been submitting records to the concerned aut- horities since 2013 and that the process was ongoing.  

While the DoI approved the company’s investment proposal worth Rs100 million, its balance sheet did not match the proposal that had been okayed. The DoI said that the balance sheet showed a higher investment figure.

Considering the much higher profit against its investment in Ncell as per the balance sheet, the DoI had asked the company to increase its capital to claim repatriation of dividends. The DoI had agreed in principle to transfer Shrestha’s 20 percent stake in Ncell to Bhawana Singh Shrestha after the company agreed in principle to enlarge its capital and capacity. “Ncell has already applied to increase its capital, and we will come up with a decision on it soon,” said DoI Director General Maheswar Neupane.

Last December, TeliaSonera had announced that it would be selling 80 percent of Ncell stock, valued at Rs140 billion ($1.4 billion), to Malaysian-based company Axiata.

As per the agreement signed between the two companies, TeliaSonera will sell its 60.4 percent stake in Ncell to Axiata at around $1.03 billion. Axiata will also buy the 19.6 percent stake owned by the Visor Group of Kazakhstan. The process is ongoing and TeliaSonera has stated that it aims to close the deal by mid-2016.

Even though TeliaSonera is already in the process of forging a deal with the Malaysian-based company, most officials in Nepal, including those from the Ministry of Information and Communication, NTA, NRB and the DoI, said that they were unaware of the planned transfer of 80 percent of Ncell stock. Lawmaker Ram Kumar Bhattarai said that the government should also initiate a study to find out the source of the investment.