“The bench hereby concludes that Lixian failed to disclose reliable source of income for the US$ 1 million he had deposited into the account (number 05928) at the Bhainsepati branch of Nepal Bangladesh Bank on July 27, 2008,” read the verdict.[break]
Invoking clause 3 and 4 (29) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the bench also slapped a one-year jail term and Rs 67.45 million fine on Lixian.
“Government authorities should seize that amount from Lixian’s bank account,” states the verdict issued by Judges Gauri Bahadur Karki, Om Prakash Mishra and Kedar Prasad Chalise.
On February 28, the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) had filed a money laundering case against Lixian at the court under Anti-Money Laundering Act.
“Lixian had claimed while recording his statement with the DRI that he accumulated the amount from contracts and various projects,” reads the verdict, “But in view of his failure to show proofs of such contracts and projects, his source of income is dubious.”
Though Nepal Police and Nepal Army have issued letters, confirming their transactions with a Chinese company represented by Lixian, DRI officials had mentioned in the charge sheet that they could not find a copy of the agreement between US-based Tarala International and the Chinese company as claimed by Lixian.
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had frozen the payment made by Colorado-based Tarala International in July 2008, after the DRI traced a dubious transfer payment while overseeing money-laundering cases.
Initially, recording statement before the DRI on behalf of Lixian, Shambhu Bharati, the proprietor of Bhagwati Traders, had claimed that he had made the payment to a Chinese national named Wu Lixian, a logistics supplier to the Nepal Army and Nepal Police, for the supply of non-lethal logistics to Nepal Police peacekeepers in Sudan and also for construction of a prefab house in Kathmandu.
Bharati, Lixian’s representative in Nepal, had given a statement to DRI that some Rs 73 million was transferred to Nepal because Lixian was required to pay about Rs 50 million to local agents who supplied goods to Nepal Police peacekeepers in Sudan.
Following DRI’s summons, Lixian appeared and recorded his statements. But afterward, he neither cooperated nor responded to the DRI despite several summons. Lixian has been at large for long.
The case had taken a dramatic turn in the first week of March after a US bank suddenly deducted the frozen amount from NRB’s account at Standard Chartered when the case was still sub-judice in Nepal.
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