A case has been filed against eight individuals in connection with the fraud at Miteri Savings and Credit Cooperative in Lalitpur.
The case was filed in the Lalitpur District Court on Sunday.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had submitted its investigation report to the District Government Attorney’s Office, Lalitpur, some days ago. The government attorney’s office filed the case based on the report.
Among the eight defendants, only three have been arrested.
Those arrested include Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari and his associates Subash Khatri and Suresh Adhikari.
The other defendants, including Jyoti Gurung, Kumbha Raj Gurung, Bijay Kumar Rai, Pritam Adhikari (alias Pradip), and Arjun Aram, are absconding. Jyoti Gurung is the former wife of Nepali Congress Vice-president Dhanraj Gurung.
The CIB investigation concluded that Dhanraj Gurung was not involved in the case.
The CIB’s investigation led to charges being filed for fraud, document-related offenses, cryptocurrency transactions, organized crime, and violations of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act.
The government attorney’s office has claimed damages amounting to Rs 142.92 million, including principal and interest, to the cooperative as of October 16, 2024.
Also, the accused sent parcels worth Rs 331.1 million and defrauded an additional Rs 34.28 million by repeatedly charging commissions to retrieve those parcels on multiple occasions.
Therefore, the office has claimed damages worth Rs 177.2 million from fraud alone.
Additionally, it has claimed damages of Rs 6.74 billion from hundi (informal money transfer).
Subash Khatri was found involved in cryptocurrency transactions. His Binance account showed transactions worth USD 2,149. The government attorney’s office has demanded punishment for him for the offense.
