Not only party chief and home minister Rabi Lamichhane, his close aides including labour minister Aryal implicated in cooperative fraud

Its an old case against incumbent Home Minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane of accusations of misappropriating cooperative funds against.

The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has been vehemently opposing his appointment as Home Minister suspecting the investigation could be compromised, due to his position.

But, there seems whole lot of Lamichhane's party comrades are in the soup. More RSP comrades are accused of cooperatives fruad is no coincidence.

Its Lamichhane's close aide and incumbent Labour minister, who is the vice-chair of RSP, Dol Prasad (DP) Aryal, who is now entangled in a cooperative fraud scandal.

During Aryal's tenure as vice-chairman of the 'Hamro Naya Agricultural Co-Operative,' depositors were unable to retrieve more than Rs 40 million, according to a complaint letter they have sent to Department of Cooperatives under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation.

Last January, the government declared 'Hamro Naya Agricultural Co-Operative' as problematic entity, after it failed to return the depositors' funds.

The complaint filed by the cooperatives's depositors include the names of DP Aryal and Rastriya Swatantra Party's joint general secretary Kabindra Burlakoti, who served as directors of the cooperative, with Surya Gurung, the then chair, when Aryal was vice-chair.

A total of 26 depositors lodged a complaint seeking refunds during Aryal's tenure as vice-chairman, according to the complaint letter.

Despite numerous attempts, the depositors did not receive their money back, forcing them to file a formal complaint with the Department of Cooperatives.

Aryal left the co-operative in 2023 after he introduced Geetendra Bahadur (GB) Rai, a business associate of RSP chair Lamichhane, into the cooperative. Upon transitioning into active politics, Aryal left the cooperative.

However, the cooperatives was in financial trouble during the tenure of Gurung, Aryal and Burlakoti.

"It was DP Aryal who brought GB Rai to the cooperative," one of the directors said, adding that the cooperative faced financial trouble during his tenure."

Surya Gurung stepped down from the board of directors when GB Rai assumed control, as chair. GB Rai is the same person, who is absconding in yet another cooperatives fraud case, which also involved the incumbent home minister Lamichhane.

Sections 104 (1) (a) to (f) of the Cooperative Act, 2074, were invoked when action was taken to address the cooperative’s failure to refund members' savings, in violation of the cooperative rules, regulations and values. As per the recommendation of the Registrar of the Cooperative Department, the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation declared Hamro Naya Agricultural Co-Operative as problematic under section 104 (2) of the Act. The ministry has referred the matter to the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee, established under Section 105 of the same Act, to manage the cooperative's assets and liabilities.

Actually, declaring problematic is one of the legal loopholes to save the cooperative frauds, according to the director, who didnot want to be named.

According to member secretary of the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee Keshav Prasad Paudel, some 34 individuals had filed complaints regarding the non-repayment of deposits totaling over Rs 40 million. "We have secured and sealed the cooperative's documents for examination," he said, adding that the documents are currently under review. "But most of the confiscated computers donot have harddisk, as it is suspected the Aryal-Gurung-Rai-Burlakoti nexus tried to destroy the proofs of fraud."

When Aryal's team left the cooperative after bringing in GB Rai, the victims filed a complaint with the Department of Cooperatives demanding the return of their deposits.

RSP vice-chair and Labour Minister Aryal had invested Rs 2.3 million Hamro Naya Agricultural Co-operative.

Though, he claims that he voluntarily resigned in 2023, and was not involved in fraud, the cooperative depositors donot buy his argument.

According to the Nepal Police sources, the Central Investigatoin Bureau (CIB), had been investigating the case, but sudden chamge in the government has postponned for the timebeing.