The accountant’s records at Gorkha Media are in conflict with Lamichhane’s statement

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and forty-four other people were sued by government officials in the Kaski District Court on Sunday for allegedly embezzling money from the Suryadarshan Cooperative in Pokhara.

From the start, Lamichhane has insisted on his innocence in this matter. In particular, he has been attempting to defend himself by saying, “I was not aware of it,” in reference to the cooperative funding received by Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd., where he was a director and managing director.

Under the District Government Attorney’s Office’s supervision, Lamichhane gave the same testimony to the Kaski Police during his statement to the police while in judicial custody. He said, “At the time, there was no proof or foundation to suggest that Gorkha Media’s funding originated with the cooperative.”

“I am not involved in the theft of cooperative funds in any way, nor am I complicit in it. Those who committed the offense are subject to the applicable laws. “I have not received a single rupee of the cooperative’s funds,” Lamichhane said during his testimony. Additionally, it is evident from the report of the parliamentary special investigative committee that I am not involved in the misuse of cooperative funds. I have never been and never will be connected in any way to these crimes.”

Evidence discovered by the police indicates that Rabi Lamichhane was the beneficiary of a Rs 10 million loan from Suryadarshan Cooperative. They paid out Rs 5 million on May 20, 2021, and another Rs 5 million on June 23, 2021, putting the entire sum into Gorkha Media’s account under his name. They officially registered the loan in his name on July 15, 2021, with an annual interest rate of 14.75 percent.

Rabi Lamichhane has continuously refuted the accusations in this regard, claiming that he did not visit the cooperative to register an account, sign a document, or complete a loan application.

The police have discovered proof that Rabi Lamichhane made 21 installments (EMIs) totaling Rs 3.134 million towards Suryadarshan for a loan of Rs 10 million in his name, notwithstanding his claims that he was ignorant of the money entering Gorkha Media and that he did not take out the loan in his name. The prosecution’s paperwork submitted to the court at the time of the case’s registration also contained this information.

According to the prosecution’s records, Gorkha Media paid Rs 112,000 a month in loan installments under Rabi Lamichhane’s name. The funds were transferred from the Global IME Bank account of Gorkha Media to the Nepal Investment Mega Bank account of Suryadarshan Cooperative.

Seven payments totaling Rs 224,000 for two months, one payment of Rs 100,000, one payment of Rs 121,000, and the rest payments of Rs 112,000 each were among the 21 payments made. Lamichhane personally issued the check 17 times and participated in 18 of these payments.

It begs the question: Why did someone who denied knowing about the cooperative’s finances and who refrained from borrowing from it send out installment checks using his own check? Why didn’t he know anything till the check was so big? This question was posed to Lamichhane by the police throughout the inquiry, and it is also referenced in the prosecution’s records, along with Lamichhane’s statement.

“No, I don’t know” was Lamichhane’s reply. He has admitted, nevertheless, that the checks used to make the installment payments bear his signature.

According to Lamichhane, Chairman GB Rai was in complete control of Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd’s check system, which was overseen by the GB Group of Companies. He clarified that checks suggested by GB Group’s accounts officer Rabina Rimal would go through the required procedures at Gorkha Media before coming to him for signature.

According to Lamichhane, he left several trust-based checks that he had signed, which may have been exploited. “I believe the cheques presented here are either blank cheques I signed in good faith and were later misused,” said Lamichhane. “Alternatively, these might be checks that I signed without my knowledge, either at the investor Gitendra Babu Rai’s direction or through deceit, whereby my signature was first acquired and then the cooperative’s name was written to make payments, misleading me.”

According to Lamichhane, he occasionally signed blank checks and left them to make sure the business’s operations continued because of the burden at the company and the necessity to travel beyond the valley.