The public prosecutor's office has filed a case in the district court demanding 1.13 billion bego from 25 people, including UML leader and Jesus chief Rajkumar Thapa, who embezzled one and a half billion from the Kumari multi-purpose cooperative organization in Beni, Myagdi. Six people involved in money embezzlement, including Thapa, are in police custody during the investigation.
An investigation was started in Kumari Co-operative 15 months ago based on the application submitted to the Co-operative Registrar's Office. In the investigation conducted by the cooperative registrar office Pokhara under the coordination of financial analyst Nirmal Gautam, it has been determined that Thapa embezzled 1 billion 49 million from the cooperative in the main plan.
Thapa took the co-operative's money and invested it in his private boarding school. He took the money from there and did real estate business in Jaljala Rural Municipality and Kaski. While taking the funds of the cooperative, they did not even foreclose the real estate to collect the loan and take the loan.
The public prosecutor has acquitted the case of money laundering and organized crime on the basis of taking the cooperative's money directly and investing in the real estate business and making a profit by selling it.
Sagar Paudel, the spokesperson of the district police, said that the Gandaki Province Cooperative Registrar's Office asked for a written opinion from the public prosecutor as they asked to investigate the money laundering as well. "We asked for an opinion on the basis of the letter from the cooperative office, but the public prosecutor Gobind Upadhyay did not agree to pursue a case on money laundering," says investigating officer Paudel, "then the case was submitted according to cooperative fraud." "In the case of other cooperatives of this nature, investigations are being conducted according to the Asset Laundering Act, why it was not done there, it is a matter of surprise," Gautam said.
