A case of money laundering has been registered against Rabindra Chaulagain, the chairman of Deurali Multipurpose Cooperative Society in Satdobato, Lalitpur, and other high-ranking officials. The District Government Attorney's Office, Lalitpur, registered the case in the District Court, Lalitpur last week on the recommendation of the Money Laundering Investigation Department.

Assistant District Attorney Basant Aryal of the District Attorney's Office, Lalitpur, has decided to register a case against the chairman of the cooperative, Chaulagain, the vice-chairman of the organization and Chaulagain's wife Pooja Khatri and Manoj Bhandari, among others. 

Based on the saver's complaint, the Police Headquarters, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had conducted a preliminary study on the organization and sent it to the Money Laundering Investigation Department for further investigation on 17 Mangsir 2080. Accordingly, the Money Laundering Department had conducted further investigation into the Deurali Multipurpose Cooperative Organization.

During the investigation, the department found that Chairman Chaulagain, Rajendra Khatri, Deepak KC, Pooja Khatri and Manoj Bhandari had embezzled the cooperative's funds. The investigation revealed that they had embezzled the savings of the cooperative in Satdobato and its branch offices in New Road, Kathmandu and Bhaktapur.

The department has concluded that Rabindra Chaulagain and others may have purchased land, including Ghaderi, in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kavrepalanchok and Jhapa districts, and formed various companies in their names and invested in them, thereby committing the crime of money laundering. 

For the same reason, a case has been registered against the defendants Rabindra Chaulagain, Pooja Khatri and Rajendra Khatri, as per the then prevailing Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2064 BS and the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2064 BS, imposing a fine of Rs 2.68 billion 51 lakh 16 thousand 431 (two hundred and fifty-one paisas only).

It has also been demanded that the property, including houses and properties, acquired by the defendants Chairman Chaulagain, Pooja Khatri and Rajendra Khatri through the crime be confiscated. Rajendra Khatri is Chaulagain's brother-in-law.

Since the defendant Rabindra Chaulagain is the president of a cooperative organization that is an indicator organization for the prevention of money laundering purposes, and his wife Pooja Khatri is the vice-president of the same cooperative organization, it has been demanded that the punishment be prescribed in addition to the punishment as per Section 30 of the Act in the case of the two of them. In the case of the other defendant Manoj Bhandari, it has been demanded that the punishment be prescribed as per the Act and the houses and properties in his name should also be confiscated.

Chaulagain of Deurali, Kattike, Kavre had established the Deurali Multi-Purpose Cooperative Organization in 2071 BS. The cooperative, which has its head office in Satdobato, also operated branches in New Road and Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur. 

By BS 2079, more than 3 billion rupees had been collected in this cooperative from about 20,000 savers. It has been found that the cooperative operator Chaulagain had transferred the depositors' money to his personal company and sunk it in land.

Chaulagain had opened companies named RR Group of Companies, Shree Pooja Poultry Farm Pvt. Ltd., Deurali Properties Pvt. Ltd., Moon Venture Investment Pvt. Ltd., RR Research and Development Pvt. Ltd., Pooja Marketing Pvt. Ltd., Pooja Trading and Marketing Company Pvt. Ltd., Shree Brothers Marketing Pvt. Ltd., Annapurna Distillery Pvt. Ltd.

It is seen that he withdrew money from the cooperative and bought land, and took a loan from the bank for double or triple the value of the land as collateral. A few hundred ropanis of land are in the names of Chaulagain and his wife Pooja Khatri. Investigation has revealed that Chaulagain's family has 84 ropanis of land in Lamatar, Lalitpur.