Police have submitted a report to the Government Attorney’s Office with the recommendation to prosecute 51 people including Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane in connection with the embezzlement of savings at Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperative in Kaski.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Basanta Sharma said that District Police Office, Kaski, submitted a report to the Government Attorney’s Office on Monday.
According to DSP Sharma, the police have recommended prosecuting 51 people including Lamichhane, former deputy inspector general of police Chhabi Lal Joshi, Ram Prasad Khanal, and Lila Pachhai for embezzlement of cooperative savings, organized crime, and money laundering.
"We have submitted a report naming 51 people, including those who have been arrested and those who are yet to be arrested, as defendants," he said.
Some of the defendants have been released on bail or are in prison, while most are absconding.
DSP Sharma said that the police have sought around Rs 1.51 billion in claims from the defendants.
The Government Attorney’s Office, Kaski, will now have to register a case at the Kaski District Court within a few days.
The Government Attorney’s Office is working to register a case at the court on Tuesday itself if possible. It plans to request the court to extend the remand of the defendants if it cannot file a case by Tuesday. But the defendants cannot be kept in custody for many days without filing a case.
Police investigated the defendants based on a supplementary complaint filed on February 5.
Former DIG Joshi was arrested on September 22, and Pachhai on September 25.
Lamichhane was arrested from the party office in Kathmandu on October 18 and taken to Pokhara the same day. Similarly, Khanal was arrested on October 25.
Investigations are also ongoing against all four of them in Chitwan, Rupandehi, Parsa, and Kathmandu.
They are being investigated for embezzlement of savings of Sahara Cooperative in Chitwan, Supreme Cooperative in Rupandehi, Sano Paila Cooperative in Parsa, and Swarna Laxmi Cooperative in Kathmandu.
Police investigations have shown that loans were given to Gorkha Media Pvt. Ltd. and Nature Herbs, among others, from these cooperatives and that the funds were embezzled.
The parliamentary special inquiry committee on cooperative fraud had recommended investigating various individuals including Lamichhane. The committee had submitted its report to the House of Representatives on September 16.
Police opened an investigation into the matter after the Cabinet decided to implement the committee’s report.
