Nepal: Corruption case filed against 18 people including telecom chief
Kathmandu: Nepal's anti-graft body on Sunday filed a corruption case against 18 people including former and incumbent managing directors of the government-owned
Nepal Telecom
.
The case was filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (
CIAA
) at the Special Court over alleged irregularities in the contract extension for maintaining Nepal Telecom's billing system, according to CIAA spokesperson Rajendra Kumar Paudel.
Sangita Pahadi
, Managing Director (MD) of Nepal Telecom, and former MD
Sunil Paudel
were among the 18 people against whom the case was filed.
The case was filed over alleged billing irregularities in Nepal Telecom's GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) mobile, fibre internet, leased line, and wire lines due to illegal purchases and sales.
"There was bad faith in the purchase of related equipment and also the misappropriation of public assets," the CIAA stated.
The anti-graft body has demanded a compensation claim of Rs 334.8 million against the defendants.
Investigations found that Nepal Telecom awarded a contract worth NRs. 3.15 billion to Chinese company Asia Info around two and a half years ago without following proper procedure, causing a huge loss to the state-owned telecom. PTI
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
15 minutes ago
- Mint
Xi's Price-War Campaign Creates a Buzz in China's Stock Market
For strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as well as money managers in Hong Kong and Singapore, an opaque term has suddenly emerged as the catchphrase for deciphering Chinese policy intentions and navigating the stock market. The term 'anti-involution' has cropped up in government documents over the past year, but gained prominence earlier this month when President Xi Jinping chaired a high-level meeting that pledged to regulate 'disorderly' price competition. It refers to efforts to root out China's industrial malaise, marked by cutthroat price wars and overcapacity that have hurt profitability in sectors ranging from solar, new energy vehicles to steel. Investors are hopeful that a more coordinated policy response to tackle the drivers of deflation is on its way, though Beijing hasn't yet released any plan. Analyst reports on the theme have flooded the market, while solar and steel stocks have rallied in July. Morgan Stanley strategists changed their preference to onshore shares from those in Hong Kong last week. 'One of the biggest issues that investors have investing in China is that of excessive competition,' said Min Lan Tan, head of the Asia Pacific chief investment office at UBS AG. 'It's actually a very positive development that top down the government is now recognizing it and directly saying that destructive competition has to stop. It's a powerful policy signal.' The Chinese term for involution, 内卷 , literally means rolling inwards. In practice, it's used to describe a system of intense competition that yields little meaningful progress. Huge spending on building capacity has helped Chinese firms enhance their global standing. The nation's companies now dominate every step of the solar supply chain, while its EV makers have toppled Tesla's dominance. Yet, ending destructive competition has rarely been more important. Producer deflation is worsening, and trade tensions mean China can no longer unleash some of its overcapacity to other countries. 'With foreign markets closing off Chinese trade routes, part of the competition is forced to return to the domestic market,' said Jasmine Duan, senior investment strategist at RBC Wealth Management Asia. The campaign seems to be helping improve investor sentiment for the mainland market, where policy drivers have a stronger sway and industrial stocks have bigger weighting. The onshore CSI 300 Index has risen 2% so far in July, outperforming the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index after lagging it for most of the year. Solar stocks Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co. and Tongwei Co. have advanced at least 19% this month. Liuzhou Iron & Steel Co Ltd. has surged more than 50% while Angang Steel Co. has gained about 16%. Glass, cement and chemicals shares have also jumped. It's still early stages but if the reforms pan out, 'there'll be consolidation in China and there'll be slightly better pricing and margins, and there'll be better valuation,' said Wendy Liu, head of China and Hong Kong equity strategist at JPMorgan. Sectors that are likely to benefit include autos, battery, solar, cement, steel, aluminum and chemicals, she said. To seasoned China watchers, the current rhetoric recalls the supply-side reforms of 2015-2018, when a government-led push to cut outdated capacity in sectors such as coal and steel helped drive up prices in the following years. This time, however, key differences may limit the campaign's effectiveness. A decade ago, oversupply was mostly concentrated in upstream and construction-related sectors. It's become more pervasive today, encompassing the most promising industries of solar, EV and battery to downstream consumer sectors such healthcare and food. That point is illustrated by the intensifying price war among technology giants listed in Hong Kong — China's private sector leaders. Shares in Meituan, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Inc. have slumped more than 20% from their March highs as they jostle for delivery market expansion. 'This time the overcapacity is concentrated in industries mostly dominated by private firms, so the challenges are going to be greater than when SOEs ruled and could just buy up the private firms and shut them down,' said Li Shouqiang, a fund manager at Shenzhen JM Investment Management. Addressing the supply-demand imbalance will also require measures to reflate the economy by boosting consumption — a tall order the government has struggled to deliver on. For now, investors seem hopeful that a bigger supply-side reform is in the offing. Morgan Stanley strategists said sentiment has improved with the government's message, and added they now prefer A-shares over offshore ones. 'When senior policymakers change some policy tone, there should be some actionable items or something to follow through,' said Louisa Fok, China equity strategist with Bank of Singapore. It won't be a quick overnight fix, but it's 'definitely positive' that the government is aware of the problems, she added. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
India Today
20 minutes ago
- India Today
OnePlus 12 price drops to lowest
OnePlus 12 price drops to lowest By Ankita Garg The OnePlus 12 is now available at a lower price on Amazon, making it a solid pick for those who find the new OnePlus 13 a bit expensive. Here's a quick look at the current offer on the OnePlus 12. The OnePlus 12 is listed on Amazon with a starting price tag of Rs 51,997. This is for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage model. This is down from its original launch price of Rs 64,999. This means that the device is available with a flat discount offer of Rs 13,002. But, the deal doesn't end here. There is also a Rs 4,000 off on ICICI and SBI bank cards, which will reduce the price of the device by a certain margin, making the deal more attractive. This is a limited time period deal, which will expire soon. So, people are advised to take their buying decision a little fast. This is a good offer because we rarely see such a big discount offer on a OnePlus phone, which is about 13 months old. The OnePlus phones are known for offering high-end performance at an affordable price point. Unlike other smartphone companies, OnePlus bundles a fast charger with its flagship and affordable phones as well. For those who want a performance-oriented smartphone with a great screen and decent battery life, this is the best affordable flagship device you can get right now. You can afford to spend more than Rs 60,000, then it is better to buy the new OnePlus 13 smartphone.
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Make (more) in India: India switches to factory settings for niche electronics
TIL Creatives Representative Image Kolkata: After iPhones, smart televisions and microwave ovens, India is now scaling up manufacturing of more niche electronic products such as robotic vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, built-in refrigerators and air fryers, which, till recently, were fully imported. The development, according to industry executives, is driven by the government's expanding list of electronic products whose factories need certification under the quality control orders (QCO) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) that are meant to control imports from China and other places, as well as promote local production. Most of these specialised products have come under QCO in the past eight to nine months. Till recently, most consumer goods firms argued that the market size for these categories was so small that local production did not make sense. 'BIS norms have been a big trigger, with more and more brands — including premium ones — exploring local production for small appliances despite small market size,' said Atul Lall, managing director of Dixon Technologies. 'It's a nice business opportunity.' Earlier this week, Dixon signed an agreement with Eureka Forbes to manufacture robotic vacuum cleaners, a category with a market size of just about Rs 700 is the largest home-grown electronics contract manufacturer. Europe's Liebherr has set up a plant for built-in customised refrigerators in Aurangabad, with production commencing in April, despite domestic annual sales of only 14,000-15,000 Agarwal, India managing director (sales) at Liebherr Appliances, said that implementation of the BIS norms for refrigerators from this year served as a wake-up call to set up a factory locally, further aided by the premiumisation wave. 'We were importing from Germany but getting the factory certified is a tedious process. We also believe the market will grow to 1 lakh units in five years. So a local plant made a business case and will reduce import lead time,' he Greaves Consumer Electricals' annual report said it will prioritise local sourcing this fiscal. Havells India said in its annual report it will further support localisation of products to reduce import dependence, from about 8% of its total sourcing in the previous financial year, having scaled it down from around 15% of total sourcing in of QCOs has opened up more attractive categories, according to Ajay Singhania, MD of contract manufacturer Epack Durable, while the business for more mature categories such as mixer grinders has been either flat or growing at a nominal rate of 3-4% annually. The opportunity includes 72 categories, such as air fryers, electric kettles and hair dryers, most of which were earlier fully imported, he said. 'We are taking a lead in localising these categories and meeting the requirements of most of the marquee customers,' he told analysts last firms imported these products in bulk in the past few months before the QCO came into executives said that while the market size may be small for standalone categories, it's altogether a business opportunity of more than Rs 12,000-13,000 crore. To put it in perspective, the market size of air-conditioners alone is more than Rs 40,000 crore and that of smartphones is more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Another leading contract manufacturer, PG Electroplast, began small appliance production seven to eight years ago, but had to discontinue it as the opportunity was very small at the time, said its managing director (operations) Vikas Gupta. 'But with the BIS norms, we are now relooking at it as a lot of brands are approaching us,' he said. The government has, over the past few years, expanded the compulsory BIS QCO certification to products such ACs, washing machines, refrigerators, ceiling fans, plugs, switches and cables, and very few overseas factories have received the BIS certification.
