Business environment getting worse, again: FNCCI

 The private sector has complained the Prime Minister that the business and economic environment in the country is getting worse lately. “The entrepreneurs are getting threats for extortion,” they said, adding that most of the industries are still closed.

In a meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in his official residence Baluwatar today, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) president Shekhar Golchha said that they have been receiving complaints of extortion from entrepreneurs operating their business in the districts outside the Valley.

“According to industrialists, in the past few months, they have been pressurised either to provide the extortion amount or close their businesses,” Golchha said, adding that the entrepreneurs are being threatened to meet the demand or else face closure of their businesses. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the group pressuring for extortion.

The FNCCI – issuing a press note – said that the business community is losing the confidence. Golchha urged the Prime Minister to take necessary steps on time to build confidence of the business fraternity.

Only a day before yesterday, a principal has been killed by an illegal outfit led by Netra Bikram Chand, a break-away faction of earlier NCP Maoists.

The government has also called an all-party meeting a couple of days ago after sensing security threat triggered by the activities of the Chand-led outfit, which has been banned by the government last year. Due to growing security threat, a meeting of the Central Security Committee of Home Ministry yesterday also decided to review the activities of the ‘revolutionaries’ and ‘royalists’.

Golchha, on the occasion, also asked the government to help revive economy that has been crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Oli, on the occasion, consoled the private sector and told that the government is with them.

Industrialist Dr Roop Jyoti released from police custody

Former state minister of finance and renowned industrialist Dr Roop Jyoti – who was arrested on November 7 for his alleged involvement in the housing scam – and his daughter Suruchi Jyoti has been released from Metropolitan Police Circle in Durbarmarg this afternoon.
Dr Jyoti was released after Bikendra Krishna Malla, who earlier lodged a fraud complaint against the industrialist, withdrew his complaint. However,
Police released Dr Roop Jyoti after it received letter from the District Government Attorney’s Office, according to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shyam Gyawali. “Earlier today, the District Attorney Office Kathmandu had decided not to prosecute him,” he said, adding that the AOG office also asked the police to release him on the court date immediately.
Earlier, Bigendra Krishna Malla filed a case against Jyoti Group alleging them of housing fraud. Malla had complained that he paid Rs 27.6 million in instalments – since September 2014 for a house at Bansbari in Budanilkantha – to Landmark Developers. Jyoti Group has a stake in the Landmark Developer Malla claimed he still has to get possession of the house. The housing project was developed by CE Construction. According to police, Malla and Jyoti had previously agreed to resolve the dispute but Malla later backed away.
Police had arrested Dr Roop Jyoti on the charge of housing fraud on November 7.
After Malla filed a case, police issued an arrest warrant last December. But Dr Jyoti had immediately filed a writ against the arrest warrant and taken stay order from the court. However, a double bench of Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana and Justice Prakash Dhungana had vacated the stay order on Jyoti’s case on November 5.
The court had allowed police to investigate Dr Jyoti by keeping him in custody for three days initially and then for another five days. But after ‘suspected out of the court settlement’, Malla took his case back. The police insider, however, claimed that such practice of extortion using the government machinery is neither the first nor last but most of the industrialists do not go to police or court but settle out of the court due to fear. “The stable and two-third majority government should have instilled business confidence in the private sector but such incidents have terrorised them,” said an industrialist, who opines that the country will have to pay for such ‘suspicious adventures’ of the police and the government. “Some of the people near the power centre are running a extortion usiness misusing the government machinery.”