Rediff

Panaji, Aug 3: An American businessman, involved in a legal battle with an Indian citizen Rakesh Wadhwa over the control of Nepal's casino industry, is planning to open a floating casino in Goa.

The businessman, R D Tuttle, said a ship for the casino has been ordered and will soon arrive from USA. He has already paid Nepalese rupees five crore (50 million) fee to Goa government for registration.

Though foreigners are not allowed to invest in casino business in India, he said he would manage it by appointing a dummy investor and taking hold of the management of the casino.

The casino, with Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) investment, will be three storied and will employ few hundred locally hired staff, he said. Though the senior staff will be taken from Nepal for a short period, they will return after imparting necessary training to the new recruits, he revealed.

Now Tuttle will have competition with Wadhwa not only in Kathmandu but in Goa too, where Wadhwa already has stake in a floating casino. Goa government is learnt to have granted licence to five new casinos for operation this year.

Speaking about his legal battle with Wadhwa over control of the casino industry in Nepal, Tuttle said: "I am half way to win the battle after the Hong Kong Court decision on July 27."

The casinos, seven in Kathmandu and one in Pokhara, are run by Nepal Recreation Centre, a joint venture owned by Hong Kong registered company, Cannosa Investment.

In fact, the court verdict to revive the old Cannosa and ruling that "the company and all the persons are placed in the same position as before" gives Tuttle the Power of Attorney of the Cannosa, which was denied earlier.

The casinos of Nepal are not only an important contributor to tourism industry but also provide employment to over 9,000 people and give the government a revenue of NRs.120 million annually.

Cannosa was dissolved in 1997, on account of failure to pay registration fees to the Hong Kong's Company Registrar's Office. The fact was unnoticed by both Tuttle and Wadhwa, untill Wadhwa registered a new Cannosa Investment with different registration number to claim the ownership of the casinos.

Wadhwa has claimed that he had bought the 87.4 per cent shares Tuttle sold to Dartford few years ago. However, Tuttle denies it questioning the purchase of the shares he had never sold.

He says that he had kept all his shares in trust with Hong Kong-based Dartford company and in turn received beneficiary rights from the company. Now, the court will decide in less than two months whether Tuttle can get back the shares, which he claims to have kept in trust with Dartford or not.

That will decide the fate of all eight casinos with a total worth of Rs. 440 crore (Rs 4.4 billion). Wadhwa, a Chartered Accountant-turned-casino operator, had good relations with Tuttle when they had jointly operated casinos in Sri Lanka in late 1980s. But now they are not even in talking terms.

When asked, whether they would again become partners if the Hong Kong court gives its final decision regarding the ownership of the casino, Tuttle said, "Now it is not possible, as the rivalry has gone too far."