Kathmandu, December 27
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by independent MP Amresh Kumar Singh of Sarlahi-4, which sought to halt the sale of an 80% stake in Ncell.
A division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Tek Prasad Dhungana rejected the petition and issued some directive orders, the details of which are yet to be made public.
MP Singh had filed the petition demanding a halt to the sale of shares in Reynolds Holdings, the company holding an 80% stake in Ncell. Malaysian-based Axiata, the owner of Reynolds Holdings, had decided to sell all its shares to the UK-based company, SpectraLight UK Ltd.
The petition raised concerns that the shares were being sold at a significantly undervalued price to evade capital gains tax. Axiata had announced the sale of shares to telecommunications entrepreneur Satish Lal Acharya for $55 million (approximately Rs 6.65 billion).
MP Singh questioned the drastic depreciation in value, noting that Axiata had purchased the 80% stake in Ncell in 2016 for Rs 143 billion. He argued that selling the stake for only Rs 6 billion despite Ncell’s annual revenue of approximately Rs 40 billion was unjustifiable.
He also pointed out that Ncell had borrowed Rs 40 billion from three major Nepali banks, which made the undervalued sale highly questionable. Singh’s petition urged the authorities to halt the share transfer process.
The petition named Ncell, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Inland Revenue Department as respondents.
