SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, FEB 11 -
With the deadline to clear their dues ending Friday, six casinos paid royalty to the government on Friday.
The casinos paid Rs 43.1 million in royalties and dues of the current and last fiscal year. However, eight casinos still owe Rs 355 million to the government.
On Dec. 28, the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had given a 35-day deadline to the government to recover the dues and had directed it to scrap the licences of casinos that fail to pay the dues.
On Friday, Casino Tara at the Hyatt settled its Rs 1.71 million dues for the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI), only two casinos—Casino Everest and Casino Tara—have cleared all their dues.
Casino Rad, Casino Venus and Casino Grand also paid their royalty—Rs 5 million each—for the current fiscal year. However, these three casinos still owe Rs 10.8 million as interest of the current fiscal year, according to the DRI. Earlier, these three casinos had paid Rs 15 million each as royalty. Likewise, Casino Fulbari in Pokhara paid Rs 2 million on Friday.
Similarly, Casino Shangri-La at Hotel Shangri-La paid Rs 24 million for the current fiscal year. It paid the royalty and interest of only the current fiscal year as Hotel Shangri-la had taken over the casino only this year after Rakesh Wadhwa, who used to own it, failed to pay the rental dues. However, the casino still has Rs 25.9 million dues of the previous year.
Despite revenue enforcement agencies’ constant pressure, Casino Anna and Casino Nepal have not settled their dues. These two casinos owe Rs 244 million. Both the casinos are being run by Wadhwa who is still absconding. Likewise, Casino Fulbari still has to pay Rs 62.1 million.
The DRI says it will formally write a letter to the Ministry of Tourism on Sunday asking it to take action against those who failed to clear their total dues. According to Mahesh Dahal, director general of the DRI, eight casinos might face action.
“We will recommend action against those casinos who failed to clear their full dues on Sunday,” said Dahal.
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