User:Usedtobecool/Upendra Mahato

Upendra Mahato (उपेन्द्र महतो) is a Nepalese businessman. He is thought to be one of the richest Nepalese. He was the founding president of Non-Resident Nepalese Association.

Education
Mahato earned a Masters in Engineering degree from State Polytechnic Academy, Belarus, in 1988.

Early business ventures
Mahato invested in oil, real estate and television manufacturing businesses in various post-Soviet states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He bought the Belarusian heavy machinery manufacturer Amkodor around the same time. According to Khazakhstani financier Aidan Karibzhanov, Mahato's television company did not succeed. However, Mahato turned one of the warehouses of the company in Moscow into the biggest market for second-hand goods, and had a successful business selling electronics, CDs and other items. .

Ncell
Mahato returned to Nepal in the early 2000s. He invested, along with King Gyanendra's son-in-law Raj Bahadur Singha, in Spice Nepal, a telecommunications company. By 2005, he was able to convince Kazhakhstani investor Visor to invest in Spice Nepal. By 2008, Spice Nepal's mobile telephony service, Mero Mobile had 1.8 million subscribers, earning it sales worth more than 1.5 billion rupees. Spice Nepal attracted further investments from Swedish company Teliasonera (later Telia) in 2010. Mahato earned billions of rupees by selling his shares in Spice Nepal (later Ncell) in 2008 and 2011. Centre for Investigating Journalism reports suggest Mahato may have received as much as 433 million dollars outside Nepal in those sales in order to bypass Nepalese legal restrictions against investing wealth earned inside Nepal in foreign ventures(?).

Patanjali Ayurveda, Nepal
In 2016, it was reported that Patanjali Ayurveda, Nepal(?) had been registered under Mahato and his wife Samata, channeling more than INR 1.5 billion rupees from Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda Group in India, bypassing existing procedures and against Nepalese laws, by using Baba Ramdev's influence among the political elite in Nepal.

Nepal Mediciti Hospital
As of 2019, Mahato was the president of Nepal Mediciti Hospital; his wife Samata Prasad was its managing director. Mahato has been accused of using his political influence (he is related to Birendra Mahato, Julie Kumari Mahato and Raghubir Mahaseth) to get permit for a medical college, contrary to assurances given to Dr. Govinda KC who has sat more than 15 hunger strikes seeking to protect medical education in Nepal from business interests.

Tax havens
Upendra Mahato and his wife Samata were named in 2019 among the dozens of Nepalese found by the Centre for Investigative Journalism to have illegally channeled Nepalese capital to offshore companies in tax havens. The couple were found to have made investments to Spartley Ventures, Pankur Finance, Tipologia, Moneystar, Amkodor, BNK, Yagyadeep, Yumi Nepal Earthquake Appeal, Nostal Business Corp and Mabel Apparel based in British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Belarus, England and India. Mahato is alleged to have maintained swiss bank accounts, and later brought back some of the capital into Nepal as foreign direct investment (FDI), thus completing the process of tax evasion(?)(tentative). Mahato has denied investing in offshore companies; he also denied investing in Nepal as a foreigner.

Other activities
Mahato is a former honorary consul for Belarus.

Mahato became the founding president of Non-Resident Nepalese Association in 2003.

Philanthropy
Mahato is "a well known philanthropist". In the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, Mahato pledged to contribute 150 million rupees to relief and rebuilding efforts via Phoolkumari Mahato Trust(named after his mother). He would spend 30 million rupees in relief efforts, and the rest would be used to rebuild schools. Upendra Mahato also supported Samata Siksha Niketan and its promoter Uttam Sanjel's initiative to build affordable private schools for the poor. He sponsored building of a string of these schools in the country, and was seen travelling the country for ceremonies laying the foundations. As of 2015, Mahato was the only regular donor to the institution and had given Rs. 36.5 million in total, enabling it to run classes from kindergarten to Master's level for monthly fees of only Rs.100 (~$1).

Mahato founded the Pashupati old-age home.