DRI suspects Thamel based money exchange of foul play

KATHMANDU, APR 11: 

Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on Monday raided Thamel-based North Point Money Exchange suspecting it of being involved in foreign currency misappropriation and Hundi – an illegal money exchange facility, according to it.

“The department has confiscated all the ledgers of the money exchange outlet and locked its store for further investigation,” said director general at 

the DRI Shanta Bahadur Shrestha. DRI found Rs 4.4 million Nepali currency from North Point Money Exchange, he informed. It is investigating whether or not it stored the money through a legal source.

North Point will face legal action if it fails to show proof that the Rs 4.4 million was collected legally, added Shrestha. “DRI said that the money exchange was involved in foreign currency misappropriation and Hundi.” 

“There are still chances of getting proof because the department has to still investigate one store room and one vault of the money exchange,” he informed. “DRI will start investigating the store room and vault from tomorrow.”

“Department has also suspected it of being involved in exchanging currencies of those countries which are not approved by the central bank for money exchange outlets to be involved in,” he said.

Central bank allows the exchange of 15 currencies –– US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi (Yuan), Saudi Arabian riyal, Qatari riyal, Thai baht, UAE dirham, Malaysian ringgit and South Korean won. Similarly, it allows only buying of Swedish kroner, Danish kroner and Hong Kong dollar from money exchanges and commercial banks.

Dept to seek opinion

Department of Revenue Investigation will write to the Government Attorney’s Office in coming week and seek its views before filing a case regarding the misappropriation of Indian currency. The department has almost prepared all the documents needed to file a case against firms involved in the misappropriation, said director general Shanta Bahadur Shrestha. The total amount of misappropriation is IRs 1.28 billion and it will charge a 100 per cent fine of that amount according to the Foreign Currency Exchange Act, he said.