NRB freezes NSM chairman’s bank accounts

KATHMANDU, MAY 06 -

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Thursday froze bank accounts of Yogendra Prasad Shrestha, chairman of Nepal Share Markets and Finance, for not producing documents sought by a central bank supervision team.
The NRB has already written to banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to freeze bank accounts in the name of Shrestha. “We took this decision after Shrestha declined to produce documents asked by the inspection team,” said a senior NRB official. “We are still investigating.”

According to the central bank, it froze Shrestha’s bank accounts on the suspicion of irregularities while sanctioning some loans. Shrestha also confirmed that his accounts have been frozen and admitted that his company has failed to recover some loans.

“It is natural that vigilance on us has been upped, as we are preparing to become a commercial bank,” he said. However, a recent NRB directive bars ‘C’ class financial institutions to jump into ‘A’ class.

The central bank has also barred some finance companies, including Nepal Share Markets, from issuing dividends. Shrestha, however, claimed that the dompany does not have much problem.

Posted on: 2011-05-06 08:34

http://www.ekantipur.com/2011/05/06/business/nrb-freezes-nsm-chairmans-bank-accounts/333578.html