Dec 22, Kathmandu- A case was filed against 44 people, including former Home Minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane, in the Kaski District Court on Sunday. The District Public Prosecutor's Office, Kaski, registered the charge sheet on Sunday afternoon.

Shanti Devi Sharma, information officer at the Public Prosecutor's Office, said that charge sheets have been filed against 44 people, including 31 individuals, eight companies, and five individuals for confiscation purposes. In the report submitted by the Kaski police to the public prosecutor's office last Monday, 51 people were recommended to be made defendants.

Lamichhane, who is also the former managing director of Gorkha Media Network, along with former vice president Chhabilal Joshi, employees Leela Pachai and Ram Bahadur Khanal, have been charged with money laundering. There are 31 defendants in the cooperative fraud, while 19 others have also been charged with organized crime.

Information Officer Sharma informed that different demands have been made according to the crime. “A charge sheet has been filed for offences against the National Bank Act, including cooperative fraud, organized crime, money laundering,” Sharma said. “We had filed an additional charge sheet on Friday, and today we have filed a supplementary charge sheet.”

He said that the charge sheet clearly mentions additional claims and additional offenses in the pending case and a total of 63 defendants have been named. A demand of 278.9 million 44 thousand seven hundred five rupees has been taken against Lamichhane in asset cleansing. 743 million 471 thousand 55 rupees has been fixed against Joshi.

The defendants are facing a prison sentence of four to six years for cooperative fraud, an additional 50 percent for organized crime, and two to 15 years for money laundering. Kaski Police submitted a report to the Government Attorney's Office, Kaski, on Paush 1 after a more than three-month investigation into the fraud of Suryadarshan Cooperative.

One billion 51 million 40 million 19 thousand 194 rupees has been demanded in the indictment. Suraj Adhikari, Information Officer of the District Court, Kaski, mentioned that the charge sheet will be registered during office hours on Sunday as it has to be registered both manually and in the system.

“The registration process is being completed. We are in the process of studying the file,” the officer said, “The statements of the defendants will begin tomorrow. After the statements are completed, the closed arguments will begin.”

The charge sheet has demanded a sum of Rs 1.514 billion 19 thousand 114 rupees. Suraj Adhikari, Information Officer of the District Court, Kaski, mentioned that the charge sheet will be registered during office hours on Sunday as it has to be registered both manually and in the system.

“The registration process is being completed. We are in the process of studying the file,” the officer said, “The statements of the defendants will begin tomorrow. After the statements are completed, the closed arguments will begin.”