SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, FEB 11 -
With Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC)’s 35-day deadline to the government to recover outstanding royalties from casinos ending on Friday, tough action is on the cards against casinos who have defied the government.
The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI), which is handling casino royalty row, is expected to recommend the tourism ministry to scrap operating licenses of casinos who fail to clear their dues by Friday. “We will wait till 3 pm on Friday.
If casinos failed to clear their dues, we will recommend the ministry to scrap their licenses and shut them,” said Mahesh Dahal, director general of the DRI.
As of now, four casinos—Casino Anna, Casino Shangri-La, Casino Nepal and Casino Fulbari—haven’t cleared their royalty dues of the last fiscal year. These casinos owe Rs 188.83 million in royalty dues to the government. Of them, Casino Anna, Casino Nepal and Casino Shangri-La have not paid any money.
As per the new finance bill, casinos have to pay their royalty in advance by mid-September. However, they can pay it by Mid-November with 15 percent additional charges. Those who have failed to pay royalty for the current fiscal year will also feel the heat henceforth.
According to the DRI, Casino Everest at the Everest Hotel has paid all its dues and royalties for the current fiscal year. Casino Tara at the Hyatt has paid its royalties for the current fiscal year, but has been behind in paying interest. Three casinos—Casino Rad, Casino Venus and Casino Grand—each have paid Rs 15 million as royalty for the current fiscal year. “These casinos together still owe Rs 15 million as royalty,” said Dahal.
The new budget has made it mandatory to get casino operating license renewed every year. However, casinos have to clear their royalty—Rs 20 million—for license renewal.
Fearing that the government would issue another notice making hotels, where the casinos are housed, liable for the outstanding dues, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) had forwarded a request to tourism ministry on Feb. 7 to consider hotels until the end of the Nepal Tourism Year.
“We have also requested the ministry to entrust the responsibility to HAN if the government fails to recover dues from Nepal Recreation Centre owned by Rakesh Wadhwa,” said Madhav Om Shrestha, executive director of HAN. Wadhwa has been in hiding since the police issued an arrest warrant against him.
Wadhwa is still operating Casino Everest, Casino Anna and Casino Tara. “We have requested PAC to take action against Wadhwa who operates casinos in Goa also by contacting the India authorities,” Shrestha said. Apart from the dues issues, other issues could be settled after the implementation of the casino guidelines or act, HAN said.
The government could confiscate three ropanis of land and a house at Kalimati which is under the name of Nepal Recreation Centre. The government has been taking a tough stance against casino operators since the last four months, pressuring them to clear their royalty dues.
With the haphazard running of casinos and their increasing negative impact on society, PAC has even asked the government to explore the possibility of relocating them outside the Kathmandu Valley recently.
Last week, PAC instructed the Tourism Ministry to draft a working procedure for casinos within 15 days in consultation with the Home and Finance ministries and implement it.
