Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Arrest warrant issued against FNCCI prez
Revenue Investigation Department (RID) has issued an arrest warrant against Chandi Raj Dhakal, president of FNCCI, the apex body of business chambers, after he defied a number of summons issued by RID to record a statement on tax evasion charges.
Once Dhakal is arrested and produced at RID, a quasi- judicial body, he will have to deposit a bail amount of Rs 25.5 million to avoid detention. RID has accused Dhakal's Momento Apparels, the largest garment factory of the country, of cheating Rs 8.6 million in customs duty by producing forged documents at the bonded warehouse.
A government source informed the Post that the arrest warrant was handed over to Metropolitan Police Kathmandu late in the evening. The warrant has asked the police to arrest Dhakal and his brother Tika Raj Dhakal, co-owner of Momento Apparels, and produce them before RID.
Confirming the action, deputy director general and spokesperson of RID Laxman Pokharel said that the department has initiated necessary legal procedures against Dhakal. However, he declined to give further details.
Dhak Bahadur Karki, chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police, told the Post that necessary instructions have been issued to all police units concerned to arrest Dhakal.
RID had sent Dhakal the last summon letter on Friday, but he refused to accept it. RID on Sunday pasted the letter at his house in the presence of local police and ward officials. The letter ordered him to produce himself at RID by 3 pm on Monday.
"We had no option but to issue the arrest warrant after he ignored the last warning," said the official.
RID had summoned Dhakal for questioniong after an investigation revealed that Momento Apparels was involved in "serious financial crime", producing counterfeit documents to avoid customs duty.

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