Valley
Two persons charged with misappropriation of Rs 36 million through Hundi
The Department of Revenue Investigation on Sunday filed a case at the Kathmandu District Court against two persons on the charge of misappropriating foreign exchange worth Rs 36.68 million through Hundi, an illegal remittance transfer channel.Prithvi Man Shrestha
The Department of Revenue Investigation on Sunday filed a case at the Kathmandu District Court against two persons on the charge of misappropriating foreign exchange worth Rs 36.68 million through Hundi, an illegal remittance transfer channel.
Dirgha Raj Mainali, the department’s director general, told the Post that the accused duo, Govinda Subba and Indra Narayan Limbu, had been issuing remittance to the recipients from their Kathmandu-based company Reliance Sub-Remit Ltd while settling the amount in source countries.
In doing so, Mainali said, they prevented the country from receiving the foreign exchange, which is vital for importing essential materials for the country.
The department has sought fines equivalent to triple the sum of the misappropriated amount and three years jail term for Subba and Limbu, as per the Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act.
Earlier, on February 4 this year, the department had filed a case at the Dhanusha District Court against eight people for misappropriating foreign exchange worth Rs4.16 billion through Hundi.
This, according to the department, is the largest case of foreign exchange misappropriation through Hundi channel.
Although the inflow of remittance through banking channel is growing in the country, a significant portion of the remittance is believed to be coming to Nepal through Hundi.
As per the International Labour Organization Report titled ‘Remittance Services in Republic of Korea in 2015,’ as many as 55.1 percent of Nepalis used Hundi for sending money home.
But, in Nepal Rastra Bank’s study in Dhanusha about remittance in 2012, as many as 14 percent respondent had admitted that they received remittance through Hundi.