Kaski attorney seeks up to 15 years jail for Rabi Lamichhane

Nepal: The District Government Attorney Office in Kaski has filed cases against Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and 30 other individuals at the Kaski District Court in connection with the Suryadarshan Cooperative fraud case.

 

photo: Rabi Lamichhane

Cooperatives fraud, organised crime and money laundering cases have been filed at the district court against Lamichhane, seeking 15 years of imprisonment and recovery of Rs278.9 million from him.

 

The District Attorney's Office in Kaski submitted a charge-sheet against 44 accused, including Lamichhane. Among them are 31 individuals and eight institutions. Five others have been made defendants so as to confiscate their properties.

 

The attorney’s office states in the charge-sheet that a money laundering case has been filed against Lamichhane as he was involved in transferring deposits from the Suryadarshan Cooperative to his personal bank account as well as the bank account of the Gorkha Media Network, where he was the managing director.

 

However, Lamichhane claimed while recording his statement with the attorney that he had no knowledge of the money transferred to his or the company’s bank accounts from the cooperative.

 

According to the office, former home minister Lamichhane and former DIG Chhabilal Joshi, along with Lila Pachhai, Ram Bahadur Khanal, and Krishna Bahadur Gurung, face charges of cooperatives fraud, organised crime, and money laundering.

 

In the chargesheet, the police determined that as much as Rs1.514 billion needed to be recovered from the accused. The police advised the district attorney to file cases against them on organised crime, cooperatives fraud and money laundering charges.

 

The police investigation report states that in the case of Lamichhane, he should be sentenced to 4 to 6 years in prison for cooperatives fraud, with an additional 50 percent jail term for organised crime, plus 2 to 15 years in prison, as well as a fine amounting to double the embezzled amount for money laundering.

 

Kaski police claimed that Lamichhane was involved in financial transactions of the Gorkha Media Network even after he quit the company as its shareholder and managing director. Police claimed in the chargesheet that the RSP chief issued payments through cheques to various individuals and cooperatives after he disassociated from the company.

 

“This defendant [Lamichhane] issued cheques to various individuals, companies and cooperatives through the Gorkha Media Network’s bank account in Global IME Bank even after he sold the network’s shares. The laboratory test report shows that the signatures in the cheques match Lamichhane’s,” reads the charge-sheet.

 

The charge-sheet claims that Lamichhane, in collusion with Suryadarshan Cooperative’s chairman Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, embezzled the money of the depositors so as to cause losses to the cooperative’s depositors and to benefit himself and the company. In a bid to avert legal action, the accused carried out fake transactions with false details, imaginary names and address, says the charge-sheet.

 

Meanwhile, the Kaski District Police has officially requested Speaker Devraj Ghimire to suspend RSP chair and House of Representatives member Lamichhane from his parliamentary position. The move follows the filing of a chargesheet against Lamichhane under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2008 in the Kaski District Court.

 

According to Clause 27 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, Lamichhane is subject to automatic suspension once charges are filed. This clause mandates that officials facing such charges remain suspended until the case is resolved. Speaker Ghimire is expected to make the suspension official by posting a notice on the parliamentary bulletin board, as the House is not currently in session.

 

The Kaski District Court charge-sheet reveals that Lamichhane and his associates allegedly embezzled Rs278.9 million. The charges include cooperatives fraud (with penalties of 4–6 years imprisonment), organised crime (an additional 50 percent jail term), and money laundering (2–15 years imprisonment and fines double the embezzled amount).

 

Lamichhane, who represents Chitwan’s constituency-2 in Parliament and leads the RSP parliamentary party, now faces legal and political challenges as investigations proceed.

 

On Friday, the Kaski District Attorney’s Office had filed a supplementary charge-sheet against Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, chairman of Suryadarshan Cooperative, and 18 others in connection with a large-scale cooperatives fraud case.

 

The charge-sheet, submitted on Friday, includes accusations of organised crime and money laundering alongside the earlier allegations of cooperatives fraud.

 

Lamichhane and Joshi, among others, have been accused of diverting deposits from Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Cooperative, Butwal-based Supreme Cooperative, Chitwan-based Sahara Cooperative, Kathmandu-based Swarnalaxmi Cooperative and Parsa-based Sano Paila Cooperative to the Gorkha Media Network that ran the now-defunct Galaxy 4K Television.

 

Lamichhane, Joshi and Rai, among others, were partners in the media company. Lamichhane quit the media company to join politics in June 2022.

 

A special parliamentary probe panel formed to investigate crisis-ridden cooperatives has recommended the concerned government authorities investigate Lamichhane, Rai and Joshi, among others, on charges of cooperatives fraud.