Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the Cabinet only held discussion and no decision was taken regarding the Ncell capital gains tax issue.

PM Dahal, on Sunday, reached the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to clarify the government’s position over the Ncell controversy.

The PAC, on March 16, had decided to summon PM Dahal after a statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara stated that the Ncell tax issue was discussed during a recent Cabinet meeting “at the insistence of PM Dahal”.

During the meeting, PM Dahal said that the state will not compromise when it comes to collecting tax.

The Prime Minister was of the view that concerned bodies should also consider that failing to decide promptly on the issue could have a negative effect, at a time when Nepal is hosting various summits to attract foreign investments.

During a meeting with Finance Minister Mahara and Revenue Secretary Rajan Khanal earlier on March 16, the House committee sought details of the March 8 Cabinet decision to levy CGT on TeliaSonera—Ncell’s parent company which sold its majority stakes in the telecom company to Axiata, a Malaysian telecom giant, last year. TeliaSonera has already left the country.

Axiata acquired 60.4 percent of Ncell’s shares from TeliaSonera, a telecommunications service provider in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Eurasia and Spain, and another 19.6 percent from SEA Telecom Investments BV, a company owned by Kazakhstan-based Visor.

PAC is of the view that the government should collect Rs 23 billion from TeliaSonera as tax.

Ncell has deposited Rs 9.97 billion as 15 percent withholding tax, or tax deductible at source for capital gains. Tax authorities are undecided about the actual amount to be paid by TeliaSonera.