It has been known for a long, long time that Nepal Bank and the Rastriya Bank are rotten to the core. Now this has more support-Nepal Bank's mobile phone scandal and the Rastriya Bank's briefcase fracas.

Sources say that at an April 1999 meeting, the board of directors of Nepal Bank decided that the bank would pay a minimum monthly charge for mobile phones used by its directors. Now it comes out that the bank has been footing the entire bill of all the directors. Bank sources say the bills of Sushil Pant and Ram Babu Pant easily exceed Rs 10,000 per month. The bills of other members, including Bhawani Devi Sharma, are in excess of Rs 5,000 per month.

Managing director of Rastriya Banijya Bank Anant Ram Parajuli is raising hell on his turf. He recently made the bank buy him a Rs 22,000 briefcase for personal use. Employees still line up to eye his very expensive briefcase every time he passes by. There's more, say our sources. Parajuli last week tried to bully the bank chairman Punya Prasad Dahal into buying him a luxurious new vehicle, but Dahal put him in his place. Dahal told Parajuli that he himself was satisfied driving a cheap vehicle and there was no reason for Parajuli to be dissatisfied with the vehicle he was using, which in any case was much more expensive than Dahal's.