Where is the money of Nepal's slain royal family?

With less than three months left for a crucial election that will determine the fate of its beleaguered royal family, Nepal's government has begun a search for the bank accounts of slain king Birendra and his family in order to nationalise them.

It is not going to be an easy task since there is a strong possibility that the assassinated monarch and his family kept accounts abroad. Or their assets may have been transferred to foreign banks after their death in 2001.

According to the latest revelation by a minister, the government has been able to locate one bank account in Nepal held by late queen Aishwarya and her two sons, late crown prince Dipendra and prince Niranjan.

All three died in the infamous midnight massacre in the royal palace in Kathmandu in June 2001 that also claimed the lives of then king Birendra and six more royal relatives.

Prithvi Subba Gurung, minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, said the Standard Chartered Bank in Nepal still had an account in the name of the murdered queen and her two sons.

Gurung is part of the ministerial team formed by the government this month to assess the dead royals' properties and assets and begin a state takeover.

According to him, the StanChart account originally held 13.7 million pounds. However, subsequent transactions transferred the bulk of the money to a bank in Britain, leaving only 40,000 pounds in Nepal. It was not immediately disclosed who had transferred the sum or who its recipients were.

There has been speculation in Nepal's media that the slain royals as well as members of the current royal family have accounts in foreign banks, including Swiss banks, which are known for their confidentiality.

It would be a Herculean task to unearth such accounts since they could be in the names of other people as well.

After the fall of King Gyanendra's government last year, the ruling alliance had formed a team to ferret out such property but it could achieve little.

The probe team was snubbed by the palace, which refused to give details of properties owned by the king, queen Komal, crown prince Paras and his wife Himani.

Finally, as the Maoists this month began mounting pressure on the government to abolish monarchy before the election in November, the government, as a reconciliatory gesture, formed a new probe team of five ministers.

The team has been mandated to assess the dead royals' properties and nationalise them within 15 days.

Last week, the new team swung into action, taking over the inheritance of King Gyanendra, including 12 palaces and extensive land. But the nationalisation has not so far impacted the current royal family, who still enjoy the freedom to reside in the "nationalised" palaces.

The king, who has been allowed by the government to stay in the Narayanhity palace in the capital till the Nov 22 election, went to his summer retreat, the Nagarjuna palace, last week.

He is expected to stay there for about three months, though the retreat has also been taken over by the government.

(IANS)

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