The Agricultural Development Bank Nepal (ADB/N)-a government-run bank whose books are to be scrutinised by foreign auditors this year-reports profits for two consecutive years. Early this week, its general manager said that profits in 2000/01 totalled about Rs 93 million, slightly higher than the figure for 1999/00. The government owns 93.7 percent of the ADB/N's equity of Rs 1.45 billion. The rest is owned by the Nepal Rastra Bank, co-operatives and individual shareholders. The ADB/N, like the Rastra Bank and the Rastriya Banijya Bank, the two other large banks that involve government, is said to have a backlog of unpaid, politically-motivated loans, poor bookkeeping and excessive government influence in day-to-day operations. The bank's rural branches and outreach projects have also come under Maoist attacks in recent months. ADB/N employs 4,615 people in its 546 offices.