The District Government Attorney's Office (DGAO), Kaski, has filed additional charges against the promoters of Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperative in connection with the embezzlement of depositors’ savings at the cooperative.
The DGAO filed a supplementary charge sheet against 19 people accused of cooperative fraud at the Kaski District Court on Friday.
The accused include Suryadarshan’s former chairman Gitendra Babu (GB Rai), his elder brother Bhupendra Rai, current chairman Than Bahadur Budha, vice-chairman of the board of directors Kailash Kumar Darlami, secretary Dhiraj Kumar Das, treasurer Kumar Ramtel, members Hemanta Adhikari, Kabita Tamang, and Pramod Bhattarai.
The DGAO has also slapped additional charges on Suryadarshan’s former secretaries Anuj Nakarmi and Suraj Shrestha, board members Shiva Bahadur Gurung, Bhavishwar Aryal and Aisma Gurung, accounts committee coordinator Sagar KC, members Dinesh Roka and Lalita Tamang, accounts officer Shristi Manandhar, and loan officer Buddhi Gurung.
Earlier, the District Government Attorney's Office had filed a case against them on the charge of cooperative fraud only.
According to District Attorney Kamala Kafle, in the supplementary charge sheet filed on Friday they have sought punishment for and claims from the accused according to the Prevention of Organized Crime Act and the Assets (Money) Laundering Prevention Act.
"We conducted further investigation into the cooperative fraud case. An additional case has been filed based on the evidence found and the offenses established during the investigation," she said.
As the accused had committed cooperative fraud and illegally transferred the cooperative’s savings to various companies, the offenses attracted the Prevention of Organized Crime Act and the Assets (Money) Laundering Prevention Act, the DGAO said.
District Attorney Kafle said that a total of Rs 1.51 billion has been sought in claims from all the accused in the charge sheet filed on Friday. The DGAO has also sought a prison sentence of 8 to 10 years for the accused, Kafle added.
On October 6 last year, a case was filed against the 19 seeking Rs 1.11 billion in claims and a prision sentence of 8 to 10 years under the Cooperatives Act. The case is sub judice at the district court.
The DGAO is preparing to file a charge sheet against Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane, former deputy inspector general of police Chhabi Lal Joshi, GB Rai's partner Ram Prasad Khanal, Leela Pachhai, and Krishna Gurung at the district court on Sunday. They would be charged with cooperative fraud, organized crime, and money laundering for embezzling the cooperative’s funds by transferring them to Gorkha Media Network Pvt. Ltd.
