Rabi Lamichhane’s Hearing Today: Who Are His Lawyers?

January 23, 2025
Rabi Lamichhane's Hearing Today: Who Are His Lawyers?

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is facing charges of organized fraud involving the funds of the Supreme Cooperative. A hearing on the case is taking place today at the Rupandehi District Court.

After appearing at the Rupandehi District Court on Wednesday, the court completed his statement and released him on the condition that he be handed over to the care of his family and the defendant’s lawyers.

District Judge Pralhad Kumar Yogi, who took Lamichhane’s statement, ordered that since the detention hearing was still pending, Lamichhane be released under the custody of his wife and their lawyers, allowing the case to be heard in the meantime. Court registrar Yajnamoorti Gyawali confirmed that Lamichhane was handed over to his wife Nikita Paudel and lawyer Narayan Datt Kandel, and that a detention hearing would take place today.

Previously, in the case involving the fraud of funds from the Swarnalaxmi Savings and Credit Cooperative, Lamichhane was kept in judicial custody while his statement and detention hearing were conducted at the Kathmandu District Court. He was also kept in custody during the detention hearing at the Kaski District Court concerning the fraud of funds from the Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Cooperative.

In both courts, Lamichhane had appealed to be allowed to participate in the detention hearings from outside of custody. The Rupandehi District Court, however, granted his request, allowing him to attend the court session on Thursday morning at 10:00 AM under the condition that he be present.

During the statement on Wednesday at the Rupandehi District Court, nearly two dozen questions were asked based on the indictment. Lamichhane denied the charges, claiming that the responsibility and knowledge of the income from Gorkha Media and the funds deposited in its bank account rested solely with the company president, GB Rai. Towards the end of his statement, Lamichhane requested that he be released under custody, as he had voluntarily appeared in court to cooperate with the case and would be present again on Thursday.

In the detention hearing, the government lawyers will be represented by Senior Assistant Attorney Somkanta Bhandari from the Butwal office of the High Government Attorney’s Office, along with District Government Attorney Premraj Paudel, attorney Uma Kumari KC, Gokarna Raj Ghimire, and Basant Raj Pokhrel. For the cooperative victims, Dinesh Tripathi and Surendra Bhandari will argue. On Lamichhane’s side, Senior Advocate Sushil Pant, Narayan Datta Kandel, Surendra Thapa, and Advocate Pashupati Bhandari will participate in the hearing. The Supreme Cooperative Victims Struggle Committee’s Coordinator Bijay Kumar Nepal stated that the victims have also requested the opportunity to speak in court. The victims had gathered in the court premises on Wednesday.

The police, after conducting the first phase of investigation into the fraud of Supreme Cooperative funds, filed a case at the District Court on 2nd Baishakh (16 April) naming Lamichhane and 28 others as defendants. After a supplementary complaint was filed on 5th Ashoj (21 September), the local police office finished the investigation and recommended the prosecution office to add further charges and defendants. Following the second phase of investigation, additional individuals have been included as defendants.

The supplementary indictment includes GB Rai, Lamichhane, and Joshi, along with Kumar Ramte, Shiva Bahadur Gurung, Laxmi Prasad Paudel, Deepak Lama, Anant Babu Rai, Srivallabh Nepal, Shiv Prasad Paudel, Bir Bahadur Ranabhat, Bishal Tamang, Rabina Rimala, Bhagwati Bamjan, and others as defendants.

Among them, Kumar Ramte and Shiva Bahadur Gurung have already been arrested and are in custody awaiting trial.

Lamichhane, arrested on 2nd Kartik (18 October), had previously been released on bail after paying NPR 6.5 million in the Pokhara Surya Darshan Cooperative fraud case and NPR 6 million in the Kathmandu Swarnalaxmi Cooperative fraud case. Both courts had demanded bail, stating that there was no indication of him being a flight risk.

The District Government Attorney’s Office filed a supplementary indictment on Sunday, 22nd Poush (6 January) against 22 defendants in the Supreme Cooperative fraud case. The supplementary indictment demands compensation of NPR 55,59,83,842 for the fraud.

Additionally, Lamichhane, Gorkha Media’s president GB Rai, and former vice-president Chhabilal Joshi are being asked to pay an additional NPR 10,99,00,000 in damages. Lamichhane personally is being demanded to pay NPR 2,00,00,000 in damages.

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