The Nepalese government has published a report on the assets of the Royal family. King Gyanendra and his kin owned seventeen big companies in Nepal. Among these industries there are five star hotels, biscuit company, power supplying company and tobacco company. Here are the names of some of the companies:
- Soaltee Crown Plaza (fiver star hotel)
- Hotel de l' Annapurna (five star hotel)
- Himalayan Tea Garden
- Sipradi Trading
- Gorkha Travels
- Surya Tobacco Company
- Himal International Energy Power and Himal International Power Corp
- Laxmi Rosin and Turpentine Pvt Ltd
- Laxmi Kattha Industries
- Nebico Biscuit Industries
- Laxmi Banaspati Ghee Industries
The report was prepared by Nepal’s Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Supplies. The yearly earnings of these companies are estimated to be in billion rupees. During the fifteen months rule of Gyanendra, a large portion of the shares of these companies were transferred under the name of his daughter Prerana. Prabhakar Shumsher Rana mainly controlled all these business. Nepal’s Public Accounts Committee of the House Representatives also found out that King Gyanendra owns 1,750 hectares of land in Nepal.
Looks like the king will run into big trouble giving explanation for all these assets. If there is any thing left then Gyanendra should think of hiding them into the caves of the Himalayas.
Since I am talking about King Gyanendra’s treasure, it reminded me of the famous adventure novel “King Solomon’s Mines”, written by Sir Henry Rider Haggard, in 1885. The story is about the hidden treasure of King Solomon which is guarded by an evil witch. Had Sir Haggard wrote his noble in 2006, King Gyanendra would have been the villain of his noble and name of the noble would “The Himalayan Treasure” What do you think of the title? Chilly!! Isn’t it? I bet it would have given a good competition with J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter”. (SORRY!!! BAD JOKE!!)
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A billion Nepalese rupees works out to 13M USD, hardly a 'treasure'.
The adventurers in Haggard's novel came across wealth of an unimaginable calibre.
This articleis shoddy and sensationalised journalism at best.
Posted by: AP | August 30, 2006 11:58 AM | Permalink to Comment