Recent additions to the blacklist of the Credit Information Bureau reflect how Covid-19 is taking a toll on the economy. In less than a week, 129 industrialists, traders and individuals have joined the list of defaulters.

The bureau blacklists individuals and companies after they default on loans taken from banks and financial institutions for a long time. The recent update to the list includes Alpine Card Service, Alpine Finco International, and Yakshya Investment Pvt Ltd, all companies under the Alpine Group.

Company directors Mrinalini Giri, Rabindra Bahadur Malla, and Pranju Malla have been blacklisted. Alpine Card Services had been managing payments through international cards (including Visa, MasterCard) in Nepal. Currently, such cards are being issued and operated by the BFIs themselves. Meanwhile, several financial institutions had tried to buy the company.

Arthiknews.com quotes a company employee as saying that Alpine Group’s downfall began with its ambition of running Alpine Airlines. However, the group did not practice even the basics of business ethics. “It is no surprise they got blacklisted,” the employee says, adding, “There is probably no bank from which they haven’t taken loans. Moreover, most documents submitted to the bank for loans were forged.”

Although Alpine Group’s Union Money Transfer is currently in operation, investors have sunk most of the businesses they set up. The legacy that began with Bhakta Bahadur Malla’s Alpine Travels seems to be coming to an end now that the second generation of the family has been blacklisted.