PAC directs government to close casinos as they are operating illegally

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today directed government to close operations of nine casinos after they failed to clear their outstanding royalty dues and renew their operating licence on time.
Out of ten casinos, nine — which have an outstanding Rs 490.18 million royalty dues also — failed to renew their licences, according to Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
The committee directs the government to close down their operation within 15 days, according to the PAC.
The only casino that renewed its licence on time was Casino Shangri-La, according to the ministry. "Casinos cannot operate their services since they have failed to follow legal provision."
Casino has to pay Rs 20 million at the beginning of fiscal year to renew their licence, according to Finance Ministry. Lawmakers also directed the concerned ministries to collect dues strictly at the earliest from those casinos. The parliamentarian also directed the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to endorse new regulation within a month.
"Regulation is a must to end irregularities," lawmakers said, asking the ministry to provide the progress report on royalty dues collection every 15 days to the committee.
The meeting also urged the concerned ministries to abide by its earlier decision, secretary at the committee Som Bahadur Thapa said. PAC had in February directed ministries concerned to shift the casinos out of the valley gradually. However, there has been no progress so far.
Currently, there are 10 casinos — Casino Royale at Hotel & Yeti, Casino Venus at Hotel Malla, Casino Rad at Hotel Radisson, Casino Grande at Hotel Pokhara Grande, Fulbari Casino at Hotel Fulbari, Casino Nepal at Hotel Soaltee, Casino Anna at Hotel de’l Annapurna, Casino Everest at Hotel Everest, Casino Tara at Hotel Hyatt and Casino Shangri-La at Hotel Shangri-La.
Of them, two casinos are in Pokhara and rest are being operated in the the valley. The operation of Casino Nepal and Casino Royale has already been halted due to labour-management dispute.


The dues
Casino Anna – Rs 129.5 million
Casino Royale – Rs 45.2 million
Casino Everest – Rs 21 million
Casino Tara – Rs 13.4 million
Casino Nepal – Rs 147.3 million
Casino Rad – Rs 20.5 million
Casino Venus – Rs 10.5 million
Casino Fulbari – Rs 80.9 million
Casino Grande – Rs 18.3 million
(Source: Finance Ministry)

Casinos operating ‘illegally’: Ministry

Most of the casinos are operating ‘illegally’, according to Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) as they have not renewed their licences.
“Only Casino Shangri-La has renewed its licence so far,” joint secretary at the ministry Ranjan Krishna Aryal said, adding that other casinos are operating without any legal status as they have failed to renew licence according to the law.
A casino has to pay Rs 20 million at the beginning of the fiscal year to renew its licence. It can also renew the licence within the three months of the fiscal year after paying fine but no one, except Shangri-La has renewed its licence, according to the law.
“Home Ministry should close the casinos, as they are operating illegally, he said, adding that it is the jurisdiction of Home Ministry to check whether casinos are operating legally or not. “And Home Ministry should close down those casinos, which are operating illegally.”
Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation regulates only one casino — Casino Shangri-La — at present, since it is the only legal casino operator, he clarified.
Casinos that are in operation have breached Financial Act, according to Aryal. He also expressed his discontent over dillydallying of Home Ministry to close casinos that have not renewed their licence.
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has already informed Home Ministry and Economic and Labour Relation Committee under Legislature Parliament about the legal status of the casinos, Aryal said.
But the ministry has not yet received any information whether Home Ministry has taken action against the illegal casinos that have failed to renew their licence or not. “If Home Ministry has not taken any action, it’s their inefficiency to enforce law and order,” he further said.
There are 10 casinos in Nepal — Casino Royale at Hotel & Yeti, Casino Venus at Hotel Malla, Casino Rad at Hotel Radisson, Casino Grande at Hotel Pokhara Grande, Fulbari Casino at Hotel Fulbari, Casino Nepal at Hotel Soaltee, Casino Anna at Hotel de’l Annapurna, Casino Everest at Hotel Everest, Casino Tara at Hotel Hyatt and Casino Shangri-La at Hotel Shangri-La. Of the total, two casinos are in Pokhara and rest are in the Kathmandu Valley.
Among them, four casinos also have Rs 326.18 million outstanding royalty dues.

PAC directs Casinos not to allow Nepalis, strictly

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the Legislature-Parliament today reiterated its earlier direction to revoke licences of those casinos that have not adhered to the strict ruling of the committee not to allow Nepalis in the casinos, and have not paid their dues.
The parliamentary committee also directed the concerned ministries to recover dues by auctioning casinos' property, ensure rights of staffs currently working in casinos, keep entry records of visitors and present Casino Regulation within a week before the committee.
The committee reiterating its decision of December 28, 2010 and January 27, directed Finance Ministry, Tourism Ministry and Inland Revenue Department to present the update every 15 days.
Earlier on January 27, the parliamentary committee has directed the Tourism Ministry to revoke the licence of the casinos, if they didnot pay their dues within 35 days. "However, the casinos are still operating without paying dues and allowing Nepalis in to play against the law of the land and directives of the committee," said Constituent Assembly (CA) member Dhan Raj Gurung.
After the committee's decree, some casions have cleared their dues, some have paid only a little and others have disobeyed, he said, adding that the earlier directives should be implemented immediately. "If casinos will not pay, the hotels that have been granted licence to operate casino will pay." The casinos have paid Rs 512 million after the committees decree to revoke the licence, if they donot pay their dues.
"However, some of the casino owners are out of touch disobeying the parliamentary committee," another CA member Lal Babu Pandit said, accusing them of trying to influence the politicians and bureaucracy to seek amnesty.
"If the committee does not bring them to book, government coffer will hit hard," he added.
Most of the parliamentarians showed serious concern over social security of staff, who are employed in the casinos that have not paid their dues.
"To safeguard social security of some 7,000 to 8,000 staff, the assets of those casinos -- that have not paid by the deadline -- have to be auctioned and staff be paid their salary," said CA member Narayan Dahal. "Some of the casinos have not paid their staff since four months. One staff is reportedly committed suicide yesterday as he was frustrated with the casino that did not pay his salary."
Though parliamentarians came heavily on the casinos, they opined that the tourism sector should not be discouraged as the five-star hotels that have the licence to operate casinos are paying their taxes regularly. "Casinos have to be regulated and brought to book without discouraging tourism sector," they said. The parliamentarians also thanked tourism minintry for closing mini-casinos after their order.

Casino Anna gets new investor
KATHMANDU: Casino Anna has got new investor Shivam Intex Hotel and Restaurent Pvt Ltd owned by Arun Kumar Singh and Ashok Wassan. "We have got the new company -- that has registered itself yesterday formally -- to operate Casino Anna," said Nepal Tourism, Hotel, Casino and Restaurent Workers' Union executive member Krishna Pandey. Shivam Intex Hotel and Restaurent Pvt Ltd bought 50 per cent share from Nepal Recreation Centre (NRC) that was operating the casino earlier and is brining investment from India.