KATHMANDU, Sept 5: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has referred seven cooperatives to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police for further investigation.

During a review of 40 cooperatives, seven were found to have issues warranting more scrutiny. These seven cooperatives include six credit and loan cooperatives and one multi-purpose cooperative. The cooperatives in question are Sumeru Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Square Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Rural Development Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Satkar Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Mahabauddha Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Namo Harati Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited and Basic Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited.

Dhruba Kumar Kafle, the chief of the Department of Cooperatives, stated that there are concerns about how these cooperatives manage savings, loans, and investments. Issues such as non-compliance with self-regulation, lack of democratic control, and misuse of funds have been noted, according to Kafle.

The monitoring, which took place from 29 March to 21 June, revealed problems such as investment misuse and improper management. The file of one cooperative has been sent to the provincial government as its operations are within the provincial jurisdiction.

Sushil Subedi, head of the Cooperative Regulation Division, mentioned that 32 cooperatives had been asked to clarify issues based on the monitoring report, and all were acquitted. Decisions on further action will be made after reviewing their responses, he added.

Under the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Cooperative Act 2074, violators could face fines up to Rs 500,000 or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Since the cooperative office was transferred to the local level on 17 July 2018, Kathmandu Metropolitan City has been overseeing 1,922 cooperative societies.

 
• KMC
 
• CIB