An arrest warrant has been issued against the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chair Rabi Lamichhane.
The District Court, Kaski on Friday, October 18, granted police the permission to arrest Lamichhane, also the former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.
The warrant comes a month after the parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the misappropriation of public savings in cooperatives recommended legal action against Lamichhane for his alleged involvement in the misuse of cooperative funds.
According to the committee, while Gitendrababu (GB) Rai, chairman of a cooperative and media outlet, is seen as the mastermind behind transferring cooperative funds to Gorkha Media, Lamichhane also bears responsibility due to his role as managing director of the media company.
Read: Recovery of Funds from Cooperatives Unlikely as their Liabilities Exceed Assets
Manish Jha, the Acting Spokesperson of RSP, told RSS, the state-owned news agency that police visited the party central office with the arrest warrant for Lamichhane.
“We respect the rule of law,” said Jha. “We will cooperate with the authorities.”
The Kaski District Police Office is investigating the case involving Lamichhane, for alleged embezzlement of funds brought from the cooperatives to Gorkha Media in collaboration with GB Rai, the founder chairman of Suryadarshan Cooperative.
Earlier in the day, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center), had hinted that the government was planning to arrest Lamichhane. During a meeting of opposition parties on Friday, Dahal had said that recent remarks by Prime Minister KP Oli and other top leaders from ruling parties indicated that the government was preparing to detain Lamichhane.
On Wednesday, the main leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and Maoist Center met in Baluwatar, the prime minister’s official residence.
(With inputs from RSS)
