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Millions gone missing from GAESO kitty
KATHMANDU, APR 18 -
The Gurkha settlement issue has spawned yet another controversy. This time it’s the issue of alleged unaccounted fund transfer.
A total of £350,000 (Rs. 38.5 million) is said to have gone missing from the account of the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organisation (GAESO), according to Times Online, a UK-based news website. GAESO is the organisation that is at the forefront of the campaign to ensure settlement rights for former Gurkhas who served in the British army.
The new controversy erupted after reports came to the fore that GAESO was charging every Gurkha veteran £500 illegally on the pretext of helping them settle in the UK.
The news said GAESO President Padam Bahadur Gurung could only show the receipt for £99,978.66 when he was asked to show the receipt for £600,000. GAESO said it “had spent on lawyers in Nepal and UK since 2002” for equal pension rights.
Gurung allegedly said the remaining sum (around £500,000) had been “paid to lawyers in cash off their books by their former lawyer Gopal Siwakoti.”
Times quoted GAESO as saying that the organisation received 46 invoices worth £499,974.21 from Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), a British law firm which worked for GAESO from 2001 to 2006.
PIL, however, said they had only sent 21 invoices worth £141,543.03 to GAESO.
On the other hand, Gurung blamed Siwakoti, the former legal advisor of the Gurkha body, for the missing £350,000.
“We had no knowledge of the British legal system. He (Siwakoti) was the middle man and was the key person,” Times quoted Gurung as saying.
Notwithstanding Gurung’s claim, Siwakoti has denied any wrongdoing and challenged him to prove it otherwise.
Posted on: 2010-04-19 07:57
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