Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the police have briefed that Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane need not be investigated in the cooperatives scam.
Answering questions raised by the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) in the House of Representatives (HoR), PM Dahal on Tuesday has clarified that Lamichhane is not involved in misappropriation of money of Surya Darshan Savings and Credit Cooperative Limited of Pokhara, Kaski.
“Investigation until now has showed that he did not have any role in the cooperative’s board, accounts committee, loan committee, and staffers, and he has not been linked even in the case sub judice in the court,” PM Dahal has claimed.
Victims had filed a complaint against Lamichhane at the District Police Office, Kaski on February 5.
PM Dahal has claimed that the complaint was a supplementary one, and Lamichhane was not named in the original complaint filed against the cooperative’s officials on August 7, 2023. He has revealed that four of the 19 persons named in the original complaint have already been arrested and a case was filed in the Kaski District Court on October 5, 2023.
PM Dahal has further pointed that no grounds and evidence of Lamichhane being involved in misappropriation of money of the cooperatives were included in the supplementary complaint. He has stressed that the police have clearly briefed that Lamichhane need not be investigated as the loan issued in the name of Lamichhane has been repaid.
Speaking after PM Dahal NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak claimed that there are enough grounds for investigation on Lamichhane.
“I want to challenge. PM is saying there is no evidence. I say there is evidence. Let’s form a probe committee inside the House. Let’s see whether there is evidence or not,” Lekhak has stated. “PM is being wrongly informed. Wrong information is being acquired. Can there be impartial investigation when the PM himself is in the dark?”
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.
