Kumari Cooperative Scandal: Court to Record Statements of Five More Individuals Today
Pokhara – The District Court has begun recording statements from those accused in the Kumari Multipurpose Cooperative scandal, involving the embezzlement of NPR 1.5 billion.
On Sunday, the court recorded the statement of Devi Kumari Thapa, the cooperative’s secretary. According to court registrar Bholaraj Regmi, five more individuals will provide their statements today.
The District Government Attorney’s Office filed charges against 25 individuals, including Rajkumar Thapa, the chairman of the District Coordination Committee and former director of the cooperative. The office has demanded NPR 1.13 billion in restitution. The court has started recording statements from the detained individuals based on these charges.
After the statements are recorded, a detention hearing will take place. Investigations by the Pokhara Cooperative Registrar’s Office revealed that six individuals were directly involved in the financial mismanagement, leading to their arrests. Meanwhile, 19 others remain at large.
The arrested individuals include former secretary, vice chairman, and loan committee officer Rajkumar Thapa; former manager Rudra Gurung; secretary Devi Kumari Thapa; former chairman Man Prasad Thajali; and Thambadur Garbuja, who were detained on Magh 20 (February 3). The police also arrested former accounts committee member Lok Bahadur Pun (Lokesh) on Fagun 7 (February 20).
The Kumari Cooperative, which has around 6,000 depositors, was found to have issued loans without collateral. Investigations indicated that former officials misused cooperative funds for personal real estate investments and private school operations.
Despite evidence suggesting large-scale financial irregularities, the Pokhara Cooperative Registrar’s Office has criticized law enforcement for failing to investigate money laundering charges, filing only cooperative fraud cases instead. Financial analyst Nirmal Gautam, who was involved in the investigation, described this as a major conspiracy, pointing out that the total embezzled amount is estimated at NPR 1.49 billion.