KATHMANDU, Jan 21: The Special Court has convicted Ichchha Raj Tamang, a former member of the Constituent Assembly and the founder of Civil Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, guilty of amassing property with no legitimate sources.

A joint bench of the Chairman of the Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Murari Babu Shrestha on Sunday convicted Tamang in the case related to money laundering. The joint bench has asked the authorities concerned to present Tamang before a separate bench at the court for handing him a jail sentence, which would likely put him behind the bars for more than three years.

The Department of Money Laundering Investigation had filed a charge-sheet against Tamang on September 1, 2022, concerning illegal assets and fraud amounting to over Rs 3.31 billion. The case involves a claim of Rs 3.318 billion for the alleged illegal acquisition, with additional claims of Rs 1.30 billion against his wife Srijana Shakya, Rs 62.2 million against daughter Pratikchya, and Rs 1.89 million against Pratistha. The total amount claimed from the Tamang family members is Rs 4.43 billion.

The joint bench of the Special Court on Sunday, however, declared two daughters of Tamang not guilty under the charge.  

Tamang has been serving a jail term for the past two years under fraud charges related to embezzlement of money of the member depositors of Civil Savings and Credit Cooperative. Based on the complaints lodged by 1,502 depositors, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police arrested Tamang on October 4, 2021. He has been accused for misappropriating Rs 5.84 billion of the deposits at the cooperative.  

 
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