E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JUN 25 - The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on Wednesday raided Sherpa Outdoor Sports Goods Industries after being tipped off about tax evasion and foreign exchange misappropriation by the firm.

Sherpa Outdoor supplies logistical goods to the country’s security organs. Proprietor Kaji Sherpa is a long-standing contractor involved in supplying logistical goods such as sleeping bags and raincoats to the country’s security agencies.

The DRI also sealed the Baluwatar-based garment factory’s stores on Thursday, but allowed the factory to keep operating. It also took details of the factory’s bank accounts.

However, the DRI team could not interrogate proprietor Sherpa as he didn’t come to work due to “illness”.

A DRI source said that Sherpa had been found to have opened a company in Hong Kong named Jiling International Trading Company and submitted bids to supply goods to the security agencies as an agent of his own company.

For this reason, the DRI has suspected Sherpa of having transferred the foreign exchange in his company’s account in Hong Kong through formal channels.

The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act prevents payment in foreign exchange except for the purpose of import. A Nepali national cannot transfer foreign currency out of the country as per the Act on Prohibiting Investment in Foreign Countries.

Earlier, a billion rupees worth of foreign exchange had been found to have been misappropriated under the guise of importing wool and other goods from Tibet.

Officials said that the DRI had also received complaints about the firm’s massive tax evasion. “We are also investigating the issue by confiscating its documents,” said DRI director Balram Rijal.

The firm has been raided at a time when all four security organs—the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, the National Intelligence Department and the Nepal Army—are in the process of awarding contracts to eligible bidders. Sherpa has also participated in several tenders called by the security agencies.

Posted on: 2010-06-25 08:25

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