Supreme Cooperative fraud: Case filing against Rabi Lamichhane delayed

Butwal, January 17 — The case against Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane in the cooperative fraud case, which was scheduled to be filed today, has been delayed due to technical reasons.

Similarly, the case against former DIG Chhabilal Joshi will also not be registered today, as informed by the Attorney Premraj Poudel of Rupandehi District Government Attorney's Office.

He explained that while final preparations were made, it was not possible to file the case by 3 PM today due to some technical issues. According to sources, a previous case file had reached the Supreme Court, but the file had not arrived yet, causing a delay in completing the process.

The Government Attorney's Office is taking necessary actions to file the case related to the alleged embezzlement of funds by the Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperative in Butwal.

In the case against Rabi Lamichhane, a claim for compensation of NPR 41.5 million is being made, which includes NPR 20 million personally from Lamichhane and NPR 21.5 million collectively from Gorkha Media.

Similarly, for Joshi, the compensation claim is NPR 42.7 million, which includes NPR 25 million personally from Joshi and NPR 17.8 million collectively from the media.

The police had completed their investigation and submitted the report to the District Government Attorney’s Office a week ago. After a week of study, the government attorney's office has prepared the charge sheet.

Previously, Lamichhane and Joshi had been charged with cooperative fraud, organized crime, and money laundering in connection with the Surydarshan Cooperative fraud case in Pokhara. Lamichhane was released on bail of NPR 6.5 million, and Joshi was released on NPR 8.8 million bail.

Afterward, Lamichhane attended a hearing at the District Court in Kathmandu, where he was also released on bail of NPR 6 million. However, Joshi has not yet appeared at the Kathmandu District Court.