Kathmandu/New Delhi, 20 November (H.S.): Nepal authorities have issued third warrant against former Deputy Prime Minister Ravi Lamichhane in the cooperative scam. Lamichhane, who has been in police custody for the last one month in the Suryadarshan Cooperative Bank scam of Pokhara, has now been issued a warrant against him in the Swarnalakshmi cooperative scam of Kathmandu.
Earlier, he has been questioned by issuing a warrant in the Supreme Cooperative Bank scam of Bhairahawa. After Pokhara and Bhairahawa, Kathmandu is the third place from where a warrant has been issued against
the former minister.
Deepak Thapa, spokesperson of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) investigating the cooperative scam, said that a warrant has been issued against Ravi Lamichhane from the Kathmandu District Court. Preparations are being made to bring Lamichhane from Pokhara to Kathmandu for questioning in the cooperative scam in Kathmandu.
An application has been filed in Pokhara's Kaski District Court to bring Lamichhane from Pokhara to Kathmandu. He said that as soon as permission is received from the court, Ravi Lamichhane will be brought to Kathmandu and questioned.
Ravi Lamichhane, who is in police remand in Pokhara, has also been named as an accused in two other cooperative bank scams. The CIB spokesperson said that efforts are being made to issue warrants against Ravi Lamichhane from two other places besides Kathmandu.
After Pokhara, Bhairahawa and Kathmandu, he will now be taken for questioning in the cooperative bank scam in Birgunj and Chitwan.
Ravi Lamichhane is accused of unauthorizedly investing crores of rupees of cooperative banks of five different cities in his Galaxy TV channel. Despite not being a member of these cooperative banks, Ravi Lamichhane withdrew crores of rupees in the form of loans from these banks and invested in Galaxy TV in his name. Before joining politics, Ravi Lamichhane was a journalist and he ran Galaxy TV in partnership with co-operative banks.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Nimish kumar