Probe committee begins investigation, presents report on 20 troubled cooperatives

KATHMANDU, June 18: The Parliamentary Probe Committee, formed to probe the cooperative fraud cases, began its investigation on Tuesday. The committee held a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the Cooperative Board, and other government officials to discuss the status, legal issues, and regulatory matters of the problematic cooperatives.

The Problematic Cooperative Management Committee presented a report on 20 troubled cooperatives during the meeting, according to Surya Thapa, the coordinator of the committee. Additionally, the committee obtained information about 29 more problematic cooperatives from the Department of Cooperative.

The committee also discussed the government's recent announcement to return up to Rs 500,000 of depositors’ money with Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Balaram Adhikari.

Thapa assured that the investigation would be completed within the three-month timeframe.

The seven-member committee is led by CPN-UML leader Surya Bahadur Thapa and includes representatives from various political parties. The members of the committee are Badri Prasad Pandey and Ishwari Devi Neupane from Nepali Congress (NC), Sarita Bhushal from CPN-UML, Lekh Nath Dahal from CPN-Maoist Center, Shishir Khanal from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan from Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).