The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has sought answers from Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal about investigation of cooperatives scam.
Speaking during the House of Representatives (HoR) meeting on Monday NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa has urged the government to take the scam seriously and demanded those who are guilty should not be spared whether they are powerful, popular or new politicians.
“We have raised this issue seriously. We want answers on this from the PM. I also request the speaker ‘Let’s not allow this question to die down’. We want to be assured that the cooperatives scam will be investigated impartially. We want to listen how the PM assures us that the investigation will be impartial,” Thapa has stated. “We don’t want the government and the House in a difficult position. Are these personal questions of Congress? Let there be guarantee of return of money of thousands of cooperatives victims who are on the streets.”
He has also stressed that nobody—whether they are from the ruling coalition or the opposition including NC—should be spared if they are found guilty of corruption after investigation, and reminded that he had demanded so even when NC was in the ruling coalition.
He has pointed that 100 persons borrowed from Suryadarshan Cooperative of Pokhara opening fake accounts, and accused Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane of taking Rs 10 million from the cooperative opening a fake account. “Rabi Lamichhane has taken Rs 10 million. He is not member of the cooperative. That is illegal,” he has added.
Gorkha Media, which had Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane as shareholder and managing director (MD), has been found to have taken loan of Rs 105 million from Supreme Cooperative, Rs 120 million from Sahara Cooperative of Chitwan and Rs 100 million from Suryadarshan Cooperative of Pokhara.
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.
Promoter of Gorkha Media GB (Gitendra) Rai was also chairman of Supreme Cooperative. He made Om Prakash Gurung chairman only two years back and remained patron. GB Rai had also opened Suryodaya Cooperative.
The cooperatives have yet to return billions saved by thousands of depositors.
