Himal Press 
This combo photo shows Deepak Bhatta (left) and Sulabh Agrawal.
KATHMANDU: The Special Government Attorney’s Office has filed a money laundering case against controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta and several other business figures.
Based on an investigation conducted by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, the office filed charges at the Special Court against 34 individuals and five companies, according to Purnendra Pandey, information officer at the Special Government Attorney’s Office.
“We have filed a charge sheet at the Special Court on Thursday naming 35 individuals and four institutions as defendants,” Pandey said. “The total amount involved in the case is Rs 22.39 billion.”
Parbati Hitan, information officer at the Special Court, confirmed that the charge sheet has been received. “We are currently studying the charge sheet,” she added.
Those named as defendants include Bhatta of Infinity Holdings, Shankar Agrawal and Sulav Agrwal of Shankar Group, Amit More and Rishiraj More of Lucky Group and Sandeep Chachan of Bhrikuti Stock Broking Company, among others.
Several defendants arrested during the investigation, including Ashish Shrestha and Shekhar Golchha, have been released on bail.
The defendants have been accused of creating artificial demand and manipulating share prices through circular trading in the stocks of Nepal Reinsurance Company, NLG Insurance and Guardian Micro Life Insurance.
They are also accused of laundering money by misusing funds belonging to companies, including Himalayan Reinsurance.
According to Pandey, the prosecution has set the total claimed amount in the case at approximately Rs 22 billion.
As part of the investigation, Bhatta was arrested on April 2 and Sulav Agrawal on April 5.
Separate banking offence case registered against Bhatta, three others
Meanwhile, a separate banking offense case has been filed at the Commercial Bench of Patan High Court against Bhatta and Sahil Agrawal, Sulabh Agrawal and Shankar Lal Agrawal of Jagdamba Group.
They have been charged with misusing credit taken out from the bank for a different purpose.
According to the charge sheet, a total of Rs 450 million taken as a working capital loan by Jagdaba Steels from a consortium led by Nepal Investment Mega Bank Ltd was misused for fixed assets creation.
The amount was later transferred to the bank account of Deepak Bhatta, who then transferred it to his firm Infinity Hodling. The amount was later used to procure shares in Himalayan Reinsurance Company Ltd in the name of Infinity Holding.
