KATHMANDU, Aug 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the investigation report from the Department of Money Laundering (DoML) in relation to Rs 4 billion brought into the country in 2010 by controversial businessman Ajeya Raj Sumargi from Cyprus.
Following a hearing on Thursday, a division bench of justices Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Manoj Kumar Sharma ordered the department to submit its investigation report.
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The department is currently investigating the fund, which Sumargi claims was meant for his satellite telecommunications business.
Soon after the money entered the country, the Department of Industries questioning its source and froze the fund through the Nepal Rastra Bank.
Sumargi filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court on February 4, 2018, challenging the NRB decision to freeze his account. In the petition, he said the fund was a foreign direct investment brought to expand his business and demanded its release. A single bench of Justice Purusottam Bhandari had issued an interim order allowing Sumargi to withdraw the amount. But, a few days later, a division bench of Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana and justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai overturned the interim order and directed Sumargi to reimburse the fund if he had already withdrawn it.
