KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 2: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police is spreading a false claim regarding the arrest of Arun Chaudhary yesterday in connection with the land-grabbing scam, claims the family source of the Chaudhary Group (CG).
According to the CBI, Chaudhary, Managing Director of CG Holdings, illicitly seized 10 ropanis of Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory regarding which the then cabinet did not make any privatisation-related decision. However, the family source terms the accusation as grossly baseless.
“This is because the government led by the Nepali Congress in 1992 had decided to privatise public enterprises as part of the economic reform agenda. Even a privatisation unit under the Ministry of Finance was formed to implement the decision with the assistance of the UK-based Department for International Development ( DFID ).” the family source justifies. “Resultantly, Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory, Bitumin and Barrel, Butwal Power Company, Bhaktapur Brick and Tile Factory, Harisiddhi Brick and Tile Factory, Balaju Textile, etc were privatised.”
Similarly, the family source argues that Chaudhari did not resort to any ploy to seize the land of the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory. “Three decades back, the market value of land was not as high as it is today. The price of land in the Bansbari area was even below Rs 100 thousand per ropani.” “Arun is a member of a highly acclaimed and prosperous business conglomerate as CG. So, there was simply no need to conspire to capture such low-value property.”
