By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Six years after the murder of Nepal’s king Birendra and his entire family inside the tightly guarded palace in Kathmandu, a new mystery has arisen about the enigmatic royals. Where did the fabled wealth possessed by the king, his queen Aishwarya and two sons vanish?
A team of ministers searching for the properties of the four has been able to trace only about 35,000 pounds.
That is what head of the team, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, told a committee of parliamentarians entrusted with making an act that will bring the royal assets under state control.
The most powerful parliamentary panel in Nepal, the State Organisation Committee, had Monday summoned Sitaula, who is also spokesperson of the Girija Prasad Koirala government, for an account of the state’s findings.
More than a year ago, after Birendra’s successor King Gyanendra angered the nation with his bid to seize power through a bloodless coup, parliament ordered that the property he had inherited from his dead brother and his family be put under a trust and be used for public welfare.
The massacre in the palace is blamed on the then crown prince Dipendra. The heir to Nepal’s throne is reported to have turned the gun on himself after wiping out his entire family and other royal relatives.
So far, the government has been able to trace only 37,427 pounds in that was left in a joint account in the name of the queen and her two sons in the Standard Chartered Bank.
According to investigations, till 2001, there was 137,427 pounds in the account. But that year, after Birendra had been succeeded by his younger brother Gyanendra, the money was transferred to the royal treasury department.
In 2003, when King Gyanendra had begun to manipulate the government, 100,000 pounds were transferred to a British company to buy shares.
Besides the meagre bank account, the government could find about 825 ropanis in the king’s name in Kathmandu. A ropani is a Nepali land unit equalling 508.72 sq m.
The dead king also has a little plot in his name in Chitwan in southern Nepal, the government found.
There is no account of the fabulous jewellery, luxury cars and shares in top companies reportedly to have been under the control of the palace.
There had been reports in Nepal’s media that the queen held billions in a Swiss bank.
The errant crown prince is also said to have had shares in a bank, and the state transport agency.
Another parliamentary committee had earlier said that the king had shares in 33 plum companies, including luxury hotels.
Coming under fire from legislators, Sitaula said the foreign ministry was taking appropriate measures to tap the slain royals’ hidden wealth abroad.
He also said the government had taken over 16 palaces, including the one in which the royal couple live, as well as over 30,000 ropani of land and forested area.
After King Gyanendra consolidated his power, there were reports that he transferred money, shares and other property in the name of his daughter Princess Prerana and trusted aides.
Despite the fall of King Gyanendra’s government last year and cuts in the privileges of the royal family, the palace continued to lead its own life, enshrouded in secrecy and disregarding state directives.
Though the government repeatedly asked the palace to furnish details of the riches of the royal family, the order has fallen on deaf ears.