KATHMANDU, Dec 23: Government authorities on Sunday filed a lawsuit against Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and 44 others at the Kaski District Court on Sunday for their alleged involvement in embezzlement of funds from Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Cooperative.
Lamichhane has consistently maintained his innocence in this case from the beginning. Specifically, regarding the cooperative funds received by Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd., where he served as a director and managing director, he has been trying to defend himself by claiming, "I was not aware of it."
During his statement to the police in judicial custody, Lamichhane repeated the same testimony to the Kaski Police under the supervision of the District Government Attorney's Office. He stated, "There was no basis or evidence at that time to indicate that the investment received by Gorkha Media came from the cooperative."
"I have no involvement or collusion of any kind in the misappropriation of cooperative funds. The relevant laws apply to those who committed the offense. Not a single rupee of the cooperative's funds has reached me," Lamichhane stated in his testimony. "The parliamentary special investigation committee's report has also clearly revealed that I have no involvement in the misappropriation of cooperative funds. I am not, and have never been, involved in these offenses in any manner whatsoever."
The police uncovered evidence showing that Suryadarshan Cooperative issued a loan of Rs 10 million in Rabi Lamichhane's name. On May 20, 2021, they disbursed Rs 5 million, followed by an additional Rs 5 million on June 23, 2021, depositing the total amount into Gorkha Media's account under his name. On July 15, 2021, they formalized the loan in his name at an annual interest rate of 14.75 percent.
Gorkha's quartz crystal to be installed on Gorkha Durbar premis...
Regarding this, Rabi Lamichhane has consistently denied the allegations, stating that he neither went to open an account in the cooperative, nor did he provide a signature, nor fill out a loan application form.
While Rabi Lamichhane has been stating that he was unaware of the funds coming into Gorkha Media and that he did not take the loan in his name, the police have found evidence that he made 21 installments (EMIs) totaling Rs 3.134 million towards Suryadarshan for a loan of Rs 10 million in his name. This detail has also been included in the prosecution documents filed in court when the case was registered.
The prosecution documents detail that Gorkha Media paid the loan installments issued in Rabi Lamichhane's name at a rate of Rs 112,000 per month. The payments were made from Gorkha Media's Global IME Bank account to Suryadarshan Cooperative's account maintained with Nepal Investment Mega Bank.
The 21 payments made included seven payments of Rs 224,000 for two months, one payment of Rs 100,000, another payment of Rs 121,000, and the remaining payments of Rs 112,000 each. Lamichhane himself was involved in 18 of these payments and personally issued the cheque 17 times.
The question arises: Why did a person, who claimed to have no knowledge of the cooperative's funds and who did not take a loan from the cooperative, issue the installments through his own cheque? Why did he not realize anything until such a large cheque was issued? During the investigation, the police asked Lamichhane this question, and it is also mentioned in the prosecution documents, along with Lamichhane's statement.
In response, Lamichhane answered, "No, I don't know". However, he has acknowledged that the signature on the cheques used for the installment payments is indeed his own.
Lamichhane stated that Chairman GB Rai had full control over the cheque system at Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd, with the entire supervision of GB Group of Companies. He explained that cheques recommended by Rabina Rimal, the accounts officer of GB Group, would pass through the necessary levels at Gorkha Media before reaching him for signing.
Lamichhane stated that he signed some cheques based on trust and left them, and these cheques might have been misused. "I believe the cheques presented here are either blank cheques I signed in good faith and were later misused," Lamichhane said, "Or they could be cheques that were signed by me without my knowledge, either under the direction of investor Gitendra Babu Rai or through deception, where my signature was obtained first, and then the cooperative's name was written to make payments, misleading me."
Lamichhane stated that due to the workload at the company and the need to travel outside the valley, he sometimes signed blank cheques and left them to ensure that the company's work was not halted.
