VOA常速英语2007年-Nepal Confronts Mystery of Missing Royal Wealth

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
19 December 2007

The Nepalese parliament has ordered the properties of its disgraced royal family nationalized. But as Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, the government is making little headway in finding the fabulous¹ wealth the royals are believed to own.

For decades, ordinary Nepalese have listened to accounts of the massive wealth under the control of their tiny country's royal family.

Besides jewels and several palaces, the late King Birendra and his wife were believed to have huge cash assets.

After Birendra was killed in a palace massacre² in 2001, the crown passed to his brother, Gyanendra, and the royal wealth came under the Gyanendra's control.

Now, a committee appointed by the government to determine the extent of the royal family's wealth is making slow progress.

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Situala told parliament this week that the committee has traced foreign bank accounts in the name of the late king's family that at one point held approximately $275,000. He said much of that money was transferred out by Gyanendra in 2003.

The committee has also traced some plots of land in the former king's name.

Lawmakers have called the report "unrealistic". They say there is no account of the jewels, luxury cars and shares in leading companies the palace was reported to own.

The editor of the Kathmandu Post newspaper, Prateek Pradhan, says the government is serious about establishing the true extent of the royal wealth, but the process will take time.

"Basically, the government is trying to unearth³ all the assets of the King and then they are trying to find out whether it is personal property or it belongs to the state," Pradhan said.

King Gyanendra was stripped of all his powers last year after he angered the nation by seizing power and dismissing parliament.

The committee to assess the royal wealth was appointed earlier this year after parliament decided⁴ to nationalize the palaces and property that Gyanendra had inherited from his brother. The plan was to put the assets in a trust to be used for public welfare.

But Gyanendra is known to have been wealthy in his own right before he became king and inherited the royal assets. He is reported to have a stake in many businesses - and the committee is attempting to establish how much of that was purchased from personal funds, and how much from the royal assets.

1 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

2 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

3 unearth   

v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出

参考例句：

• Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
• More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。