Nepal Indosuez Bank's efforts to offload its shares and pull out of Nepal have hit another snag-petitions by board members and shareholders for anti corruption investigations, which at best would delay the process and weaken the bank, its clients and shareholders further. Two petitions have been made by Rastriya Beema Sansthan shareholders (including a director) at parliament's Public Accounts Committee and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Here's a chronology of what has happened so far:

Indosuez (owned by Credit Agricole Indosuez, France) has been trying to divest and leave Nepal since July. (See "The scramble for Indosuez," #56) At that time, it wrote to the central bank seeking clarification on if it could sell its holdings to its promoter partners, the Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and the Rastriya Beema Sansthan (RBS). Indosuez's concern was that both these have held 15 percent shares each since 1985, against a 1993 central bank directive limiting individual or institutional ownership of banks to 10 percent. The public owns 20 percent of Indosuez. The Nepal Rastra Bank wrote back saying the promoters could not increase their holdings in the Nepali-French venture.

In August, Indosuez wrote to the RBB and the RBS as per the Promoter's Agreement and notified them about the NRB opinion. The Banijya Bank wrote back saying it would like to buy, but would need government approval. The NBS meantime wrote back saying it would like to get a proper offer as per the Section 4.02 of the Promoter's Agreement-irrespective of what the central bank said. Meanwhile, Ram Sharan Mahat's Finance Ministry decided that the Rastra Bank would have the final say in whether the Banijya Bank could increase its stake in Indosuez. With both the RBB and the RBS interested in buying the Rs 290 million worth of shares offered, Indosuez wrote to the Rastra Bank again asking if it could go ahead with the deal in early November. The central bank said "no", following which Indosuez made an offer to a private group, which was followed by the anti-corruption petitions.