In Pokhara on Tuesday, victims of the Surya Darshan Savings and Credit Cooperative waved black flags at Rabi Lamichhane, the chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party and a former home minister. Lamichhane was in Pokhara for the Galaxy Banquet in Birauta, which was his party’s provincial meeting.
Outside the event, protesters displayed placards with slogans against Lamichhane, accusing politicians of protecting key suspects of the massive cooperative fraud involving dozens of cooperatives and billions of rupees. They demanded the arrest of GB Rai, Lamichhane’s former boss and the prime suspect in a major cooperatives fraud, the return of their savings, and legal actions against the guilty. They also called on Lamichhane to repay the money he allegedly misappropriated while serving as the managing director at Rai’s Gorkha Media Network.
A large number of security personnel from the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force were deployed at the venue due to anticipated protests. Lamichhane was escorted to the event venue, which is around three kilometers from the Pokhara Airport, under heavy security. Lamichhane arrived at the venue at around 1pm. The protesters, most of them victims from the Surya Darshan Savings and Credit Cooperatives, had hoped that Lamichhane would come out of his vehicle and directly address them. But he entered the venue without exiting his vehicle.
Tuesday’s visit marked Lamichhane’s return to Pokhara after nine months, when he was attacked with a corncob at Amarsingh Chaur in December last year. Infuriated by the black flag protest, Lamichhane lambasted the protesters while speaking to his party members. He accused the protesters of being manipulated by external influences. “My support is always with those fighting for the rights of the victims. But you have made a mistake by labelling an innocent man as a culprit. Rabi Lamichhane would be at the forefront for justice if you weren’t accusing the innocent man. What kind of struggle committee are you running?” said Lamichhane.
Hundreds of depositors from Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Savings and Credit Cooperative have been protesting for the past several months demanding return of their defrauded savings. On October 5 last year, police filed a fraud case at Kaski District Court against Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, chairman of the Gorkha Media Network, and 18 other former and current directors and employees of the credit cooperatives, accusing them of embezzling over Rs1.1 billion.
During the initial investigation, the roles of former home minister Lamichhane and Dipesh Pun, son of former Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, were flagged as suspects. To advance the investigations, Kiran Bajracharya, then chief of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Nepal Police, deployed a team led by inspectors.
An Interpol diffusion notice for Rai was issued on January 23 as he remains at large and is believed to be abroad. Thousands of victims of cooperatives fraud have been protesting in various parts of the country for months as scores of cooperatives have failed to return depositors’ money. As the cooperative scam has escalated into a national crisis, a special parliamentary inquiry committee has been investigating the matter for over three months.
Former ministers and lawmakers including RSP chair Lamichhane and chiefs of several cooperatives are under investigation.
Source: Here
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