PrimeLife starts action over embezzlement of Rs 25 million

KATHMANDU, Nov 13:

PrimeLife Insurance Company Limited has sought clarifications from four of its incumbent and former employees, including former chief executive officer Resta Jha, for their involvement in the alleged embezzlement of over Rs 25 million.

The company has sought clarifications from former chief operations officer Keshav Adhikari, former chief business officer Jasmin Hada and incumbent chief financial officer Dip Bahadur BC.

The board of directors recently took a decision to this effect as part of a process of recovering the huge amount from the four. However, the due diligence audit (DDA) report has not specified the amounts allegedly misappropriated by each of them separately.

Sources informed that the DDA carried out at the direction of the Insurance Board (IB) has uncovered embezzlement of over Rs 25 million and prompt action has been suggested.

The findings of the DDA report show that the four also drew huge amounts from the company´s accounts, purportedly for different purposes, including foreign trips and stays at expensive hotels. But there are no supporting bills or boarding passes. According to sources, the company´s financial records show the purchase of a diamond necklace for presentation as a gift but it is not known who received the gift.

The IB has not yet taken any serious action and only directed sternly that the amount involved be recovered.

Talking to Republica, incumbent CEO of the company Manoj Kumar Bhattarai confirmed that implementation of the DDA recommendation is underway but refrained from divulging details about the action taken and the people involved. Board chairman Upendra Kumar Koirala was not available on the phone for his comments.
The annual general meeting of the company has been overdue for two years. CEO Bhattarai said they plan to hold the overdue AGMs of both years soon.

A couple of months back, the IB had handed the DDA report to the company board for recovering the embezzled amount from the employees concerned. Talking to Republica, IB director Raju Raman Paudel informed that they had forwarded the DDA report for implementing its suggestions and the company reported back to the IB recently that the baard was studying the report.

IB sources say they are closely monitoring the board´s action over the issue and receiving regular reports. The IB is likely to summon all the board members soon to present their progress report.


Jha´s second-term appointment as CEO by the board last year was not approved by the IB. It said Jha was not qualified for CEO under the new IB regulations. Adhikari and Hada resigned from the company about seven months ago.

This is not the first time that Jha has been subjected to action. In September last year, the IB pulled him up for violating its directive to maintain a cap on management expenses. He was fined Rs 10,000 for flouting the directive to limit management expenses to six percent of total expenses.

Jha was among those lobbying against the management expenses cap, saying it was not feasible. Repeated attempts to contact Jha for his comments were unsuccessful.

Source: Republica