. From absolute power to absolute poverty? Nepal's parliament sets course to strip despised king of his riches and perhaps put him in jail Jul 18, 2007 04:30 AM Dan McDougall The Observer Kathmandu–Robbed of his legal powers by parliament, a despised king now faces being stripped of his vast riches. Plastered on an ancient, moss-covered wall in a lane next to Kathmandu's opulent royal palace, a satirical poster depicts Nepal's King Gyanendra on the verge of madness. The monarch is pictured, gripped by fear and paranoia, sawing the legs from his huge gilded throne one by one. Once the absolute ruler of this poverty-stricken Himalayan kingdom, Gyanendra has been reduced to a shadow hovering over a power struggle between the Nepali government he revived under huge public pressure for the return of democracy, and the Maoist rebels who have come in from the cold to join the new regime. Stripped of all legal powers by the parliament he restored, he could also lose the roof over his head and, ultimately, his freedom. The Nepali parliament last week announced its plans to return his palaces to the public, the first of many reclamations. Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat's public accounts committee is investigating the true extent of the Nepali royal family's wealth, an inquiry that could end in corruption proceedings. The king was at the centre of a further row on the weekend as Nepal's former Maoist rebels accused the government of misleading the public by creating a secret fund for him. Unveiling his 2007-08 budget last Thursday Mahat allocated no funds to the royal family. But later he admitted $385,000 (U.S.) had been set aside for the king under an account in the prime minister's office. "This is an effort to revive reactionary forces by cheating the people," said senior Maoist leader Janardan Sharma, a member of the interim parliament. "We oppose it." Meanwhile, King Gyanendra hides away in one of his palaces, surrounded by his astrologers, counting his money and working out how to escape. His helicopter's engines are always whirring on the lawn, says constitutional lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya. The biggest task for the government at the moment is getting to the money. Gyanendra's destiny and that of his country changed forever in 2001 when his brother, King Birendra, and most of the rest of the Nepali royal family were killed in the bloodiest royal massacre of modern times. Despite public skepticism, the murders were officially concluded to have been committed by Prince Dipendra, Birendra's son. Four days after the massacre, Dipendra's widely despised uncle, Gyanendra, was crowned. But unravelling the tangled web of the royal wealth will be a difficult task given that many of these companies, hotels, palaces and resorts are not held directly in the king's name. His net assets – combined with those of his murdered brother and younger brother Dhirendra – are believed by some to make him one of the world's richest monarchs. . - http://www.thestar.com/News/article/237063