Kumbha Raj Gurung, the chairman of Miteri Savings and Credit Cooperative, has been ordered to pay a bail of Rs 3.5 million.
A bench of Judge Nirmala Yongya at the Lalitpur District Court issued the bail order for Gurung, said the court’s spokesperson, Tika Dhwaj Karki.
On August 17, the District Government Attorney’s Office, Lalitpur, filed a case against eight individuals, including Gurung, in connection with the fraud at Miteri Cooperative.
Earlier, among the defendants, Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari and Subash Khatri were remanded to custody, while Suresh Adhikari was released on a bail of Rs 700,000.
Jyoti Gurung, Bijay Kumar Rai, Pritam Adhikari (also known as Pradeep), and Arjun Aram are absconding. Jyoti Gurung is the former wife of Nepali Congress Vice-president Dhanraj Gurung.
The court proceeded with the hearing after Kumbha Raj Gurung appeared in court.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had investigated charges related to fraud, document forgery, illegal 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.
