Why Nepal crown prince won't pick up hunting trophy

[danish21]

Why Nepal crown prince won't pick up hunting trophy
Thursday, November 30, 2006




Nepal's controversial crown prince Paras is the first royal to feel the pinch as customs red-tape holds up his 'hunting trophy' following sea changes in the kingdom's laws.

The headstrong heir to Nepal's throne, who had earlier escaped punishment for assaults thanks to the legal immunity enjoyed by the royal family, is now unable to claim a mysterious trophy bagged during his father's reign courtesy new rules that say royals have to pay taxes now.

During the last days of King Gyanendra's dictatorial rule, when opposition leaders were jailed at will and foreign governments froze ties with Nepal, the desperate monarch sent his son as an emissary to Austria, then holding the presidency of the European Union, to advocate his cause.

The mission was disguised as a trip on the invitation of a Viennese zoo. The invitation was wrangled by gifting a pair of one-horned rhinoceroses, an endangered species, to the zoo.

Now months later and after the fall of King Gyanendra's regime due to a popular revolt, memories of the trip have come back to haunt the royal palace.

In early September, a parcel from Vienna, weighing over 50 kg and marked 'hunting trophy', reached Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport.

As the parcel was meant for Paras, customs officials quickly informed the palace. According to reports in the local media, a royal aide arrived at the office to collect the package.

However, the aide received a rude shock when he was told the palace would have to pay customs duty to claim the package, a thing unheard of till April, when the royalty was above the law and taxes.

However, the scene changed dramatically after the April revolt that forced the king to surrender power to a multi-party government and stripped him and his relatives of legal as well as tax immunity.

After the stunned aide went back to the palace with the bad news, he never came back with or without the money. Since then the trophy has been gathering dust at the dark customs shed.

Nepal's leading daily Kantipur reported that since normally packages are kept only for a week, customs officials are now thinking of issuing a public notice in newspapers, asking the intended recipient to pay duty and claim his parcel.

If he still fails to do so, it may end up being auctioned.

Danish

[Sakobav]

This Paras dude is bad news and seed. His rap sheet is mile long..