With this decision, the public prosecutor's offices of Kaski, Rupandehi, Kathmandu, and Parsa will withdraw charges of organized crime and money laundering.
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The Attorney General's Office has given approval to the relevant government prosecutors to withdraw the charges of organized crime and money laundering pending in various district courts against former Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane.
With this decision of the Attorney General's Office, the public prosecutor's offices of Kaski, Rupandehi, Kathmandu and Parsa will withdraw the charges of organized crime and money laundering.
An application was filed on behalf of Lamichhane at the Attorney General's Office, Kathmandu, in the first week of Asoj. At that time, Lamichhane was in Nakkhu Prison awaiting trial on charges including embezzlement of cooperative funds. On December 3, the Tulsipur, Butwal bench of the High Court ordered Lamichhane to be released on bail.
On December 27, 2002, the Kaski police wrote a letter to Speaker Devraj Ghimire to suspend the MP post of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) President Lamichhane. Speaker Ghimire used the letter to publish the notice of Lamichhane's suspension.
At that time, the Speaker had issued a notice stating that Section 27 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act provided for automatic suspension.
The Attorney General's Office has withdrawn the charges of organized crime and money laundering against Lamichhane using Section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2074.
What is in Section 36?
Section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that the charge sheet can be amended. This provision is made so that it can be done if any new or stronger evidence is found while the case is under consideration.
Sub-section (1) of the said section states, ‘If additional evidence is found in a case that has already been filed in court and it appears necessary to amend the claim previously filed, the concerned government prosecutor may, with the approval of the Attorney General, file an application with the concerned court of the first instance to amend the charge sheet, stating the reasons.’
Similarly, subsection (2) states that if an application is received pursuant to subsection (1) and its content is found reasonable, the concerned court may issue an order to amend the charge sheet in accordance with the application. However, the order to make such an amendment must have been issued before the decision of the concerned court of the first instance.
According to this section, Lamichhane could get the charges in two cases amended in his case, which could easily lead to his release on bail and weaken the case, so he filed the application.
