The Office of the Company Registrar (OCR) has been found to have been duped while transferring 15 percent of shares of Galaxy 4K Television owned by Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane to GB Rai.
Ownership of the shares were transferred by submitting a voucher proving transfer of Rs 18 million by Rai to Lamichhane's bank account. But Lamichhane organized a press conference on Monday claiming that the amount was not deposited in his bank account after a check slip showing him to have taken Rs 18 million from Rai while quitting Galaxy 4k was published.
Lamichhane also produced a letter issued by Global IME Bank to support his claims that the amount was not deposited into his account. That letter also establishes that the OCR was duped while transferring ownership of the shares of Galaxy.
An officer with the OCR told Setopati that ownership of shares can be transferred only with the consent of seller, and submission of a bank voucher if the shares traded are worth over Rs 1 million.
But Lamichhane did not reveal whether he was aware about issue of a check with insufficient fund during transfer of shares, and he was solely focused on claiming that the amount was not deposited into his bank account during the press conference.
He acknowledged that he now had the option of seeking legal remedy over the attempt to deposit Rs 18 million into his account through a check issued from an account with insufficient fund, but added that he did not opt for a legal case deeming that a person who should provide voice to the people need not get stuck in legal cases.
Lamichhane has already been dragged in the case of illegal loan taken by Galaxy 4K Television when he was its managing director (MD) and shareholder.
Clause 50 of the Cooperatives Act 2017 stipulates that a cooperative can accept deposit only from its members, and lend to only its members. Similarly, the Company Directive 2015 also prohibits a private company from acquiring shares of a cooperative and stipulates that even the shares acquired before the directive came into force be transferred to others within a year. It also prohibits a company from borrowing from a cooperative.
But Gorkha Media Company that owned Galaxy 4K has been found to have illegally taken loan of Rs 100 million from Suryadarshan Cooperative of Pokhara. The cooperative was opened by promoter of Gorkha Media GB (Gitendra) Rai. Lamichhane was shareholder and MD of Gorkha Media.
Talking to Setopati earlier Lamichhane had said that he should be punished if the loan taken by Galaxy 4K Television when he was its MD and shareholder were illegal.
“I had sweat equity (equity given in return for physical and mental labor invested on a company). I have said this on television. I did not invest. I got the shares for my work,” Lamichhane stated. “I still don’t know whether a cooperative can invest in media company or not and whether such investment made is illegal or not. I should be liable for punishment for the reason that I still don’t know," he has stated acknowledging that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
“As I went by converting my goodwill into shares, who is free from moral and legal obligations of that time? If the person who invested in your media company brought illegal investment from elsewhere, you cannot get away saying I didn’t know even when you have quit that media. Therefore, I also cannot.”
When asked about how the shareholders discussed about obtaining loans for Gorkha Media, he claimed that he didn’t recall that, and added that he also did not know if there were any records about that stressing that he did not show interest about that as he was not an investor and just worked as a journalist.
When reminded that he should have tried to find out whether the loan taken by the company, where he was shareholder and MD, was legal or not, he has repeated his ignorance.
“I still don’t know where a cooperative can invest or where it cannot. I was not from that cooperative, and other partner GB Rai did the work of bringing money from there. He is liable for punishment if a cooperative cannot invest. I should be immediately locked up if you were to say a television company cannot take loan from a cooperative and ask me why I took.”
When reminded that Company Directive 2015 also prohibits a private company from acquiring shares of or taking loan from a cooperative he argued, “Alright! You would find out that I am the worst person in this world if you dig such things up. The thing is angle of your investigation.”
He countered asking why the cooperative allowed investment in the media company when again reminded about the legal provisions governing the cooperatives and companies in Nepal. “You’re right,” he quipped when Setopati pointed that the cooperative gave loan to Gorkha Media because promoter of the company GB Rai also operated the cooperative, and another cooperative would have refused to lend to the media company.
