DoT asks five casinos to pay Rs. 858 million

Kathmandu, Feb. 2

The Department of Tourism (DoT) under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has asked five casino companies to clear their dues, including royalty, renewal and other fees, within a week.

In two separate notices published in the Gorkhapatra Daily on Wednesday, the DoT asked Hotel Yak and Yeti Limited, Oriental Hotels Limited (Radisson Hotel), Rock International, Happy Hour and Central Media to clear their dues to the government. All these companies are private institutions running in the Kathmandu Valley.

These companies have Rs. 858.44 liability to the government for various charges. This amount covers the dues until the end of the Fiscal Year 2019/20.

Hotel Yak and Yeti has Rs. 206.8 million due, Oriental Hotels Rs. 187.6 million, Rock International Rs. 114.5 million, Happy Hour Rs. 215.5 million and Central Media Rs. 133.9 million.

The department said that the notice was issued as per a decision made at the secretary-level at the MoCTCA. Earlier on 11 January, the DoT had issued a 15-day notice in the name of those companies running casinos.

Prior to that, a 35-day notice was published on 24 October 2021 asking them to clear their dues.

Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale had directed the DoT to recover the dues from the casinos.

Of about two dozen casinos that in operation in Nepal, these five and SHL Management Pvt. Ltd. that runs two casinos at Shangri-La Hotel in Kathmandu and Tiger Palace Hotel in Rupandehi, are deferring from paying their dues to the government, said the Director General of the DoT, Taranath Adhikari.

Earlier, officiating Chief Executive Officer of the Casino Bolsover, Mike Bolsover, was held at the Tribhuvan International Airport while trying to leave Nepal on 16 January at the instruction of Minister Ale. 

Later, he presented bank guarantee of Rs. 142 million by Prime Commerical Bank and he was set free.

The department had warned of stern action against the casinos should they fail to clear their fees.

“Their dues will be raised as the liabilities to the government, those companies could be black-listed or their banks accounts frozen,” said Adhikari.

There could be more severe actions such as recovering the dues from their properties and cancellation of license, against them. Hotels operating the casinos could also be closed, if they failed to comply.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 February 2022.