RSP chief Lamichhane arrested in cooperative fraud

The Kaski District Court on Sunday remanded former Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lamichhane for six days for further investigation on charges of cooperatives funds embezzlement case.

A single bench of district judge Nabaraj Dahal granted the District Police Office, Kaski the permission to keep chief of Rastriya Swotantra Party Lamichhane in custody for six days effective from Friday. He was detained from his party office in Kathmandu on Friday by a team of the Central Investigation Bureau.

District attorney Kamala Kafle, assistant district attorney duo Shanti Devi Sharma and Bipin Raj Tiwari and advocate Bed Bahadur Bista argued in court seeking the six-day remand order. Senior advocates Sushil Panta and Narayan Ghimire argued on behalf of Lamichhane.

Lamichhane was arrested from Banasthali in Kathmandu on Friday and was subsequently brought to Pokhara, where he was presented before the court on Sunday. Lamichhane, along with several other individuals, is accused of misappropriating funds from the Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperative. The arrest followed a parliamentary probe which linked him and others to the embezzlement of millions of rupees from the cooperative.

The court on Friday had issued arrest warrants against 14 individuals including Lamichhane.

Gorkha Media Network’s director and former DIG of Nepal Police, Chhabilal Joshi has already been arrested in this connection and investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, protests were staged both in favour of and against Lamichhane in Pokhara, with RSP supporters rallying for his release and cooperative victims demanding his detention for further investigation into the fraud case. A large number of security personnel were deployed in Pokhara where demonstrations were organized by Lamichhane’s supporters demanding his release. Lamichhane has been accused with misuse of the cooperative fund amounting to Rs. 1.35 billion. However, RSP leaders claim that the arrest of Lamichhane was politically motivated and he was innocent. The RSP leaders and cadres have claimed that the government was protecting the leaders of the ruling parties who are “actually involved” in the cooperative scam. The protesters on Monday clashed with police as the security personnel tried to remove the demonstrators from Sahid Chowk which had earlier been declared a prohibited area. The protesters accused the government of using excessive force to suppress their peaceful agitation. “The government used force to suppress the protest. On Monday, it used canes and water cannon against us. Tomorrow, it could use bullets,” claimed Manish Jha, the RSP spokesperson.