Mobile worth millions looted under cover of protest

Mobile phone traders have demanded action against a mob that looted shops in the Gongabu area in northern Ring Road yesterday.

A cinema hall was damaged and mobile shops at Lotse Mall in New Bus Park of Gongbu were looted by a mob during the agitation yesterday evening. However, not a single political party has condemned such criminal activities, yet.

The mobile phone traders have but demanded compensation from the government for the losses incurred. Taking advantage of the protest by public transport workers, looters had made off with mobile sets worth millions in the robbery.

The Prime Minister himself looks after the Home Ministry but neither the Home Ministry nor the PM Office condemned the incident. The government had also announced public holiday yesterday in the memory of ‘Janayuddha Diwas’ – a memorial day of starting of Maoist insurgency in Nepal some two decades ago, though the conflict pushed the country a century backward economically.

The shop owner and vice president of the Federation of Nepal Mobile Business Association (FNMBA) Arjun Chalise said that mobile phones worth around Rs 80 million to 90 million were looted from his two shops located in the Lotse Mall. 

The association – holding a press conference at Lhotse Mall in Naya Bus Park today – demanded full compensation from the state for the loss and damage to the owners of mobile shops that were robbed and vandalised in the course of the protest of transport workers' demonstration in Gongabu. President of the association Bharat Bhattarai asked the government to compensate the traders. “The government should take action against those involved in Monday's incident,” he said, adding that the shops were looted in a broad daylight robbery. “We will launch protest programmes, if the government fails to compensate us for the losses incurred within 48 hours.”

The transport operators yesterday staged a demonstration against the traffic police’s ‘stringent’ rules, and Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s announcement to not let long and medium route public vehicles park in open spaces other than inside the New Bus Park at Gongabu.

The demonstration took a violent turn when the agitating protesters set fire to two traffic vans, venting their ire against the police, who they say overcharged fines. 

They also vandalised the supermarket’s building. The ‘protestors’ looted and vandalised the mobile phone shops during the demonstration of the transport workers.

Videos of protestors looting mobile phones from a mobile shop operating at Lhotse Mall in Gongbu have also been released on social media. 

On Tuesday, home secretary Binod Prakash Singh telephoned Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dhiraj Pratap Singh and instructed him to identify those involved in the incident and take immediate action.

The spokesperson of the Home Ministry Jitendra Basnet said that the incident has drawn attention of the ministry.

Bhattarai also accused the government for not showing any concern and remained silent on the state incident for 15 hours. “Monday's incident will confirm how weak the country's security system is and that the state should pay the entire compensation for the incident,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry late afternoon instructed the police to investigate the robbery of mobile shops during the protest of transport workers.

Meanwhile, 10 individuals have been arrested in connection with the vandalism and robbery of the mobile shops.

Nepal improves prosperity ranking over a decade

The 2019 Legatum Prosperity Index shows that Nepal is currently ranked 115th in the world for overall prosperity, a rise of 13 places since 2009 when it was ranked 128th. “Nepal is 22nd out of the 29 countries in Asia Pacific, which is the most improved region of all seven regions of the world,” reads the report released today globally.
“Over the last one decade, Nepal has seen the biggest improvement in safety and security, in which it rose from 158th to 78th globally, and it has also seen improvements across the other institutional pillars of Personal Freedom and Social Capital,” it reads, adding that despite an improvement in its economic quality, the openness of the economy in Nepal has stagnated, and consequently it has fallen from 117th to 130th in the world rankings in the last 10 years. “Likewise, Nepal is ranked 142nd – the lowest – in the market access and infrastructure category among the eight pillars that ranks the economies.”
The London-based Legatum Institute’s 2019 Prosperity Index released today analyses 167 countries around the world on 12 different measures of prosperity from economic metrics to safety and security, personal freedom, health, education and living conditions.
“Nepal’s peace process, and freedoms guaranteed in the new constitution have positive factors, but Nepal needs to work on improving its investment climate and protecting its environment, “said director of the Metrics Team at The Legatum Prosperity Index Shaun Flanagan.
As personal freedom is important for a country to be prosperous, Nepal improves its ranking to 67th in the world. “The Personal Freedom pillar incorporates elements like freedom of assembly and association, freedom of speech, absence of legal discrimination, and social tolerance,” he said, adding that Personal Freedom is Nepal’s strongest pillar.
The 2019 Legatum Prosperity Index also reveals that global prosperity is at its highest ever level, with 148 out of 167 countries experiencing higher levels of prosperity than a decade ago, mostly in the Asia-Pacific. This increase has been driven by more open economies and improved lived experiences due to better health, education, and living conditions around the world. However, weaker personal freedom and deteriorating governance are holding back further improvements in prosperity.
The Index also reveals that global prosperity continues to improve, but the gap between the strongest and weakest performing countries continues to widen, economies are more open due to improvement in the investment environment and digital connectivity, as well as a reduction in administrative burdens. “Stagnating institutions are holding back further improvements to global prosperity,” it reads, adding that people are more tolerant, but there is less freedom to speak, associate, and assemble.

Security audit of BFIs mandatory

The central bank has asked the banks and financial institutions to implement precautionary measures to minimise the possible threat on their cyber security infrastructure.
The central bank has made it mandatory for the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to conduct an audit of their information and technology (IT) system regularly after the recent ATM hacking exposed significant security vulnerabilities in the banking system. Almost two weeks ago, the Chinese hackers withdrew millions through ATMs of different banks through malware attack.
Issuing a three-point directive to bank and financial institutions (BFIs) to address and manage internal and external risks in use of information technology (IT) today, the central bank has also instructed BFIs to carry out regular monitoring and reporting of their systems and share information of any incident or attack to the respective agencies.
Stating that there have been attempts to infiltrate the systems of banks and financial institutions from unauthorised people or places by placing fake order or correspondences, the central bank directed BFIs to regularly audit their IT system and promptly address the IT and security flaws that are detected. It has also directed BFIs to adopt best international practices in the IT and security system at their respective firms. The central bank has also directed the BFIs to prepare preventive, detective and responsive IT security strategies and implement them as soon as possible.
The central bank has also asked to take necessary measures to minimise external risks such as spam, phishing and spoofing, among others that could result in the loss and theft of data. “The BFIs must standardise technologies related to perimeter defence, access control, encryption, anti-virus and firewall to cope up with possible risks regarding cyber attack, malware virus and ransomware at BFI’s website, mobile applications, authenticated social networks and the entire information and technology system,” the directive reads, adding that the BFIs should also raise awareness among office bearers on IT and security issues.
Malware – a type of software – is used to infiltrate and damage the entire network system. Likewise, ransomware variants encrypt the files on the affected computer making the files inaccessible to the concerned authority. The hackers mainly use the software to block access to a computer system or computer files until a sum of money is paid.
The central bank's directives to take precautionary moves comes in the wake of recent ATM heist in Kathmandu, where a group of hackers has stolen over Rs 18.9 million by hacking the payment switch of Nepal Electronic Payment System (NEPS) through use of cloned debit and credit cards of 17 member banks of the NEPS that use Visa system, according to preliminary findings of the central bank. “Likewise, Rs 1.05 million Indian Currency (IC) was stolen in India from six commercial banks of Nepal on the same day, according to the findings.
Earlier today, the central bank also summoned chief executive officers of banks and financial institutions to discuss about security measures to check cyber attack or threats to their IT system. During the meeting, central bank Governor Dr Chiranjibi Nepal instructed the chief executives to keep vigil over their systems, particularly during the festive season as the banks and financial institutions will have longer holidays in those days.
The central bank has also lowered the maximum limit for cash withdrawal using debit card from last Thursday as part of security measures, though the hackers will anyway use malware to withdraw any amount as they did last Saturday.

Central bank mulls stricter security policy

The central bank is mulling to introduce stricter cybersecurity policy as the Saturday’s hacking on various ATMs in Kathmandu have exposed significant security vulnerabilities in the Nepali banking system.
The central bank is amending its cyber security directive making banks and financial institutions (BFIs) adopt sophisticated technology to prevent the sporadic cyber and malware attacks in the banking system. Some Chinese nationals stole millions from ATMs of different banks few days ago also due to poor IT security among BFIs to cope with cyber and malware attacks, which is not the first time in Nepal.
The central bank will introduce a few provisions for BFIs related to cyber security as soon as the investigation on Saturday’s banking heist concludes, the central bank said, adding that the BFIs should be aware of such cyber attacks and adopt sophisticated technologies.
The central bank has also formed a probe committee led by head of Department of Payment System at the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Bam Bahadur Mishra to investigate the ATM Freud. “The committee will prepare its preliminary report by midnight today and submit it to the central bank by tomorrow,” he said, adding that the Chinese hackers have withdrawn substantial amount of money from those ATM boths. The central bank has, however, earlier said that the the BFIs have notified the regulator that the hackers have withdrawn Rs 16.87 million in Nepali currency from ATM cards of different banks and Rs 10.5 million Indian Currency (IC) from ATM booths in India through the use of Nepali ATM cards.
The Nepali ATM cards are used in India also.
The Police claimed that it has recovered around Rs 12.63 million from the five Chinese nationals and suspected rest of the cash looted from Nepal have been carried away by absconders.
“But the details of the heist and the amount withdrawn by hackers will be available only after the digital forensic test, which will take more than a week,” Mishra added.
The hackers, according to Police, used electronic cards of at least six banks – NIC Asia, Siddhartha, Janata, Global IME, Prabhu and Sunrise – and used them at ATMs of three banks – Nabil, Nepal Investment and Nepal SBI – to illegally withdraw the money frpm ATM booths as the BFIs failed to conduct periodic security audits, comply with the latest technology and invest adequately in digital security.
Police has arrested a Chinese citizen Zhu Lianang on Saturday night from a Nabil Bank ATM booth in Durbar Marg, while attempting to withdraw cash. Zhu named four other Chinese nationals, who were involved in stealing cash from ATMs by using cloned debit cards to breach processing systems.
Although the central bank has made it mandatory for banks to conduct information security audits, many banks have not been allocating an adequate budget for a proper audit.
Despite banks making record profits year after year, the BFIs are blamed for not investment in digital security. In the last fiscal year, commercial banks made a net profit of over Rs 60 billion, with almost all of them posting net profits of more than Rs 1 billion each, according to the central bank.
Although most banks have transitioned to debit and credit cards with microchips, there are still a few banks that still use magnetic strips in their cards, which poses a vulnerability. Banks fail to follow security protocols for Swift and governance risk compliance systems for the Nepal Electronic Payment Systems (NEPS) – a local interface that allows transactions of money deposited in one bank using cards issued by other member banks – which should also have management oversight and an independent audit system.
Nepali BFIs currently use different types of software including Finacle, Temenos T24 and different editions of Pumori Plus.

France to help set up security printing facility

Nepal and France today signed an agreement to set up state-of-art security printing facilities and Nepal's satellite plan with the French assistance and
The two countries signed two separate memorandums of understanding (MoU), one of which is aimed at setting up of security printing – in the absence of which the government and private firms are spending billions of rupees abroad annually – and another to provide concessional financial aid and technical support to Nepal to operate and manage Nepal's own satellite.
Nepal can print passports, banknotes, all kinds of smart cards, question papers and stickers once the security printing press is set up in the country. Head of the security printing division under the Ministry of Information and Communications Bikal Poudel – on behalf of the government – signed the memorandum with INGROUPE, a French government undertaking. The security printing is likely to be set up at Information and Technology Park in Banepa, Kavre.
Currently, the passports, and especially banknotes are being printed in different parts of the world. But the separate printing blocks that will be set up at the project site, including one bullet-proof structure where banknotes will be printed will save the country billions.
Nepal and France will sign the final agreement during prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to France in June. By then both the government will work out on financial modality and cost. The financial modality could be technology transfer based on build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) model or foreign direct investment (FDI) or French loan and aid.
The primary estimation has it that the security printing facility would cost around $300 million (Rs 30 billion).
Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Communications had held negotiations with the German government to set up security printing facilities but the deal could not come to conclusion due to financial arrangements. And the French company came into scene showing its interest to assist Nepal in setting up security printing facilities.
Among the two memorandum, France is also willing to provide concessional financial aid and technical support to Nepal to operate and manage Nepal's own satellite – estimated to cost Rs 20 billion – in the orbital slot provided by the International Tele-communications Union (ITU).
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the ITU has provided orbital slot (123.3 E) to Nepal for its dedicated satellite, but due to the technological and financial constraints, Nepal has not been able to utilise it.

Qatari team arrives in Kathmandu to hold talks on labour pact

A Qatari delegation has arrived in Kathmandu today to hold talks and seek ways in resolving ever increasing number of complaints faced by Nepali migrant workers in Qatar. The meeting will discuss on various problems related to human rights, security, social security, benefits and wages apart from problems Nepali migrants have to face in Qatar.
A five-member delegation from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs of Qatar – led by the adviser of the minister of the Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs – has arrived in Kathmandu to hold discussions to review the bilateral labour agreement with Nepal. According to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS), they will hold bilateral talks tomorrow.
After signing the bilateral labour agreement with Malaysia, the Labour Ministry has started homework to review the 13-year-old bilateral labour agreement with Qatar. Nepal and the Gulf nation had signed a labour agreement on March 21, 2005, in Doha.
After the meeting in Kathmandu tomorrow, a Nepali delegation will travel to Doha to hold talks on November 19-20 to review the labour agreement as the review meeting will be held alternately in Kathmandu and Doha. The November 19-20 meeting will finalise the content of the pact and later seal a technical agreement. The agreement will authorise the responsible authorities of both the countries to oversee labour related issues and resolve them as per the spirit of the agreement.
Earlier, a five-member Qatari delegation led by the joint secretary of the Labour Ministry of Qatar had visited Nepal to hold talks, last year. A joint committee including representatives from both the countries will be formed to review the pact.
Qatar is one of the most popular destinations for Nepali migrant workers after Malaysia. But Qatar has recently topped the chart after Nepal halted sending migrant workers to Malaysia. Last month, some 7,095 Nepali migrant workers went to Qatar for employment.