Inquiry commission settles over 5,000 usury cases

KATHMANDU: An inquiry commission tasked with investigating and resolving usury-related cases has successfully resolved 5,155 out of a total of over 28,000 complaints received so far.

According to Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police, Uttam Raj Subedi, a member of the commission, said that the commission has facilitated the return of a total of 218 bigha 10 kattha 7 dhur to victims from loan sharks through reconciliation.

A study conducted by the commission shows that there are written contracts for transactions worth Rs 5.58 billion. Loan sharks claim that they are yet to recover over Rs 1.62 billion from the victims, according to the commission.  Consensus has been reached on cases with transactions over Rs 1.72 billion.

The commission collected applications from victims from April 30 to May 28. It collected a total of 21,552 complaints from eight districts of Madhesh Province and 1,862 complaints from Nawalparasi West district of Lumbini Province.

Commission Chair Gauri Bahadur Karki submitted the commission’s report to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday.

The government had established a 3-member high-powered commission to address issues related to loan-sharking, and the Parliament passed and enforced corresponding legislation after loan-shark victims marched to Kathmandu to draw the attention of the government toward their plight.