By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : A pushy businessman from New Delhi who became the owner of Nepal’s controversial casino industry shrouded in allegations of money laundering, tax evasion and promoting crime in the capital, Monday began a new battle to retain his grip on his crumbling kingdom.
Rakesh Wadhwa, who has the uneasy reputation of wresting most of Nepal’s 10 casinos from the control of his former mentor and partner, maverick American entrepreneur Richard Tuttle, is challenging the government’s decision to take away the four casinos left with him.
The 54-year-old, who exited Nepal unceremoniously last year to avoid being arrested after his casinos owed the government millions of rupees in royalty payments, is now claiming that the tourism and civil aviation ministry, which announced it was cancelling his licence to run casinos, has no authority to do so.
Nepal Recreation Center, once the only organisation licensed by Nepal’s government to run casinos in Nepal and in which Wadhwa owns majority shares, Monday issued a public statement, saying it was licensed by the ministry of industry. Therefore, the tourism ministry had no right to cancel its licence, the statement said.
It also claimed that it was the sole organisation authorised by the government of Nepal to run casinos and the new companies that had taken over some of the casinos once under its stable had no official standing.
The statement alleged that these newly-mushrooming companies were spreading false reports about it.
The Center also pointed out that it merely ran the casinos that were actually leased out to the five-star hotels from whose premises they operated. The unpaid royalty therefore should be collected from the hotels.
It also reminded the government that two of the hotels have already filed a case in Supreme Court, challenging the government’s decision to scrap the licences of the casinos. As the case was still being heard, the issue was sub judice.
The new twist comes after a change in Nepal’s political scenario and Wadhwa’s fight with his former mentor cost him four of the eight casinos he ran.
The Maoist government, that had been sympathetic to him, was replaced by a communist-led alliance in 2009, triggering a state crackdown on the casinos. Subsequently, some of Wadhwa’s casinos were wrested away by people with friends in high places, like former king Gyanendra’s son-in-law Raj Bahadur Singh.
This month, the government also began the process to auction two properties belonging to the Center in a bid to recover the unpaid royalties.
Gambling is banned for Nepalis but the casinos have been consistently flouting the rule, leading to frequent police raids and arrest of Nepali gamblers.
Many crimes, like murder and kidnappings, were found to have been caused by people who had run up huge gambling debts.
A parliamentary committee has asked the government to remove the casinos from the capital. However, the beleaguered government is yet to implement the directive.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at [email protected])