After failing to pay bank loans taken nearly two decades ago, now King Gyanendra's deputy and the second seniormost minister in Nepal is reported to have left five-star hotel bills worth Rs.1 million unpaid.

Three-time former prime minister Tulsi Giri returned to Kathmandu from virtual political in India this year and stayed at the five-star Yak and Yeti hotel, an Indian joint venture, from Jan 31 to Feb 24, prior to being nominated vice-chairman of the council of ministers.

The hotel is listed as one of the leading Indian joint ventures in Nepal, with the Saraf brothers from India being among the owners.

The hotel provided Giri with three complimentary rooms, which are among the most expensive, the Kathmandu Post daily reported Wednesday. Besides his security personnel and aide, his wife also stayed with him, the Post said.

However, the suite was booked in the name of one Birendra Singh, whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, the Post said.

While the suite was complimentary, Giri was expected to pick up the tab for the food and beverages consumed by his aides as well as telephone bills - all of which come to a sizeable Rs.1.19 million.

However, more than three months later, Giri is yet to settle his bills. While the minister was not available for comments, the Post reported his wife as saying "that's a blatant lie" but declining to elaborate.

The hotel authorities were not immediately available for comments.

Giri had found a new lease of public life when King Gyanendra took power by force this February and brought him back from virtual political exile in India.

Nominated by the king, Giri is the seniormost minister in the government hierarchy, preceded only by the monarch, who is chairman of the ministerial council.

But since last month, he has been at the centre of a raging controversy that has triggered demands for his resignation.

Before he left the country in 1986, Giri had been chairman of the board of directors of a private company that took Rs.2 million as loan from a state-owned bank and never paid it back.

Giri had been named guarantor for the loan that has now amounted to Rs.17.4 million with interest.

Even as the local media splashed the news, two more dailies came up with similar disclosures about Giri's wife.

She was reported to be one of the shareholders of another private company that too took a loan from the same bank over 20 years ago but is yet to repay the Rs.4.12 million.

The disclosures have sent Nepal's opposition parties, lawyers and journalists clamouring for Giri's resignation. However, the minister has said he will not quit.

Wednesday's disclosures come as King Gyanendra was abroad, attending a G-77 Summit in Doha and inaugurating an exhibition to promote Nepal. They also came as former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, whom the king overthrew, is languishing in a detention centre along with a former minister, on charges of financial irregularities.