Bring Cooperative Culprits To Justice

With the arrest of former deputy prime minister and home minister Rabi Lamichhane on charge of embezzling millions of rupees from different cooperatives, a glimmer of hope has been created among the agitating victims of cooperatives that they could get their deposits back sooner or later. Lamichhane’s arrest shows that the government is serious about cracking down on the cooperative frauds. Lamichhane, the president of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and member of the House of Representatives, is one of the ‘high-profile’ politicians suspected to have been involved in misusing ordinary depositors’ money. Lamichhane is also being investigated on charges of organised crime.

Investigation

Lamichhane has been detained as per a report of the parliamentary special probe committee and police investigations. The parliamentary probe panel has suggested that the government should initiate legal investigation into his involvement in the abuse of cooperative funds. The seven-member investigation committee had been formed more than four and a half months back following the disruption of the parliamentary proceedings for more than two months by the Nepali Congress. The panel was headed by CPN-UML lawmaker Surya Thapa. The committee has also indicted many individuals for their alleged connection with cooperative scams.  

When a team of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) got to the RSP’s head office based in Banasthali of Kathmandu to arrest Lamichhane on Friday evening after having received a warrant from the Kaski district court, the party’s cadres and supporters chanted slogans against the government. However, the police team rounded him up and afterwards took him to Pokhara for the trial because the case against him was registered at the Kaski District Police Office. In Pokhara as well, the RSP supporters have staged protests against Rabi’s arrest, citing that it is politically motivated while the victims of cooperatives have taken out rallies, demanding that their deposits be returned. 

Though Lamichhane has denied charges labelled against him, different other investigations, conducted by police and the Pokhara Metropolitan City, have also shown his involvement in misusing funds from several cooperatives. Instead, he has accused the government of misusing state power to protect its leaders and being unable to hold corrupt figures accountable. 

Lamichhane had to be arrested as soon as the parliamentary probe committee submitted its report to the government. Some RSP leaders had shortcut their trip to China after receiving a signal that the government was preparing to arrest Lamichhane. They suspected that he would be detained when former deputy inspector general Chhabi Lal Joshi was arrested some four weeks ago. Joshi was rounded up on the charge of misusing funds of Suryadarshan Cooperative based in Pokhara. Lamichhane, Joshi, Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, among others, were working with Gorkha Media Network. They have been charged with misappropriating millions of rupees channelled to their media organisation through different cooperatives based in Kaski, Chitwan and Rupandehi. Lamichhane was the managing director of the organisation. 

It is alleged that Lamichhane wanted to stop the process of investigation against him by all possible means when he held the Home Ministry portfolio in the previous government. Seven months back, Inspector General of Nepal Police Basanta Kunwar had said that no policy probe had found any evidence regarding Lamichhane’s connection with cooperative frauds. 

Lamichhane rose to prominence fast as the host of a television show. As he started gaining popularity, he took a plunge into politics in 2022. He was elected as the member of House of Representatives from Chitwan-2 in November 2022 with 49,264 votes. But he lost his position as a lawmaker in January 2023 over his fake citizenship issue. However, he was reelected as the lawmaker in April 2023 from the same constituency with 54,175 votes. 

Worsening situation

The cooperative sector in Nepal has been reeling from crisis over the past few years. Termed as one of the three pillars of the national economy, this sector has suffered problems due to the misappropriation of the depositors’ money. A lack of effective supervision and monitoring is the key factor behind the worsening situation of cooperatives. Ill-intentions of cooperative operators, legal gaps and political protection for those involved in this crime are other reasons for the growing crisis in cooperatives. Hundreds of cooperatives across the country are believed to have faced problems. 

The parliamentary probe committee’s report shows that more than Rs. 63 billion was misappropriated by cooperative operators from numerous crisis-ridden cooperatives across the nation. Many cooperatives have misused funds by investing in the real estate business. The government must not delay in bringing other ‘high-profile’ accused to justice. It needs to take prompt measures to protect the cooperative sector and keep cooperatives operating. The government must focus on returning the depositors’ hard-earned money to them as soon as possible. It must ensure that the cooperative sector runs according to its norms and values. 

(The author is a former deputy executive editor of this daily.)