KATHMANDU: Former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has recently been interrogated by the Kaski district police regarding allegations of embezzlement related to the Suryadarshan Cooperative in Pokhara. The inquiry follows a complaint filed on February 5, 2024, which alleges that funds from the cooperative were transferred to Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd, where Lamichhane was the managing director. This led to accusations of misappropriation of savings and fraudulent loans in Lamichhane's name. The police inquiry comes after a parliamentary special committee questioned Lamichhane on August 23, 2024, about the same issue.
The investigation revealed several suspicious transactions involving Gorkha Media and cooperative funds. On July 6, 2021, a loan of Rs 19 million from the Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperative was partly deposited into Gorkha Media’s account, with the rest recorded as a loan settlement in Lamichhane’s name. Further scrutiny found additional large transactions where funds were channeled from the cooperative to Gorkha Media, including Rs 10 million deposited on various dates in 2021 and Rs 25 million in another case, also routed to Gorkha Media.
Further investigation uncovered that Rs 5 million was issued from Suryadarshan Cooperative to Gorkha Media via Mega Bank in 2021, and another Rs 10 million loan was set up in Lamichhane's name. Lamichhane has denied any involvement in these transactions, claiming that he was not responsible for these activities and suggested that others, such as GB Rai, might have more information.
In addition to Lamichhane, Rastriya Swatantra Party's General Secretary Bipin Acharya, who was a Creative Director at Gorkha Media Network during the period of these transactions, was also questioned. It was discovered that Rs 10 million was transferred from the Suryadarshan Cooperative to Gorkha Media in Acharya's name in December 2021. Former Nepal Police DIG Chhabilal Joshi, a former partner at Galaxy Television (which was linked with Gorkha Media), was also interrogated due to the misappropriation of funds at Gorkha Media.
The police investigation and the parliamentary special committee's probe have highlighted multiple questionable transactions and potential misuse of cooperative funds. As the investigation progresses, further details on the involvement of other individuals and the extent of the financial discrepancies are anticipated.
