Probe committee submits report to police

POKHARA: A probe committee formed to look into the misuse of funds from the Suryodaya Savings and Credit Cooperative has completed its investigation.

The team of experts took around four months to prepare a 3,419-page study report. The Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City (PMC), Dhan Raj Acharya, submitted the study report to DSP Basanta Kumar Sharma of the District Police Office, Kaski, on Thursday.

According to Mayor Acharya, the District Police Office will conduct further investigation based on the report.

“This report includes additional investigations and a more detailed study compared to the previously submitted 450-page report, which also took into account the details of various software,” said Deepak Prakash Acharya, a cooperative expert in the committee.

The committee, which included a cooperative expert, a chartered accountant, and investigative officers from the National Investigation Department and Nepal Police, started its work on February 3. Chartered Accountant Anil Lamichhane and Deepak Prakash Acharya of the Pokhara Metropolitan City’s Cooperative Committee were included in the study committee as experts.

A member of the investigation committee told Himal Press that the content of the report can only be discussed after the police investigation report reaches the court.

Depositors filed complaint against officials of the cooperative in August last year after the cooperative failed to return their deposits. The Kaski District Government Attorney’s Office filed a case against 19 individuals at the Kaski District Court in October, seeking to recover Rs 1.11 billion and 8-10 years of imprisonment for the defendants. Most of them, including the cooperative’s founding chairperson GB Rai, are on the run.