Insurance Board to handover Everest Insurance after electing new board

Insurance Board led team is handing over the management of Everest Insurance after holding election of board of directors on February 13.

The insurance market regulator – for the first time – had earlier taken over the management of Everest Insurance in October after dissolving the board and suspending the then chief executive Kebal Krishna Shrestha, after repeatedly failing to abide by the regulator's directives.

Meanwhile, some of the old directors of the board are filing the candidacy for the new board election that is slated for February 13. One of the board members in the suspended board Niranjan Kumar Tibrewala is also fielding his candidacy for the election on Thursday.

Likewise, Ravi Kumar Tibrewala, Purushottam Raj Bhattarai, Hindu Sanskriti Karki, Rajan Kumar Paudel, Surendra Kumar Silwal, Sashi Agrawal, Pawan Kumar Shanghai, Rashmi Holding and Sunglow Investment are eying the post of board directors.

Earlier, the Board in October had sent a three-member team led by Chartered Accountant Santosh Prasai – including the Board's deputy director Kundan Sapkota and assistant director Om Bahadur Adhikari – to manage the insurance company.

In December, the Board team resumed the insurance business.

The non-life insurance company got into trouble after its management, according to the Insurance Board, paid a claim worth Rs 40 million to Himalayan Snax – the manufacturer of Mayos noodles – without receiving the final report from the surveyor. The Board first slapped fine and stopped it from issuing fire insurance. Contesting the Board's claim that it paid the claim without receiving final report from the surveyor, Everest Insurance shut down its entire business.

The tussles, according to the market insider, between chief executive Shrestha and Insurance Board executive director Binod Aryal, since long has over-spilled and took a nasty turn after Aryal was found to have submitted fake certificates while being appointed the Board's executive director. Aryal – bringing much shame to the regulator – had also been running his parallel business that had conflict of interest and was against the norms of good governance in the regulator.

The Board sacked Aryal after finding his involvement in business having conflict of interest but it has raised serious question on the Board's professional image.