Nepal ex-home minister Lamichhane slams govt for ‘weaponising state power’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Nepal ex-home minister Lamichhane slams govt for ‘weaponising state power’")
Rabi Lamichhane Photograph: (WION)
Nepal’s former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has accused the KP Sharma Oli-led government of weaponising state power against him as he faces a legal battle over alleged cooperative fraud.
Nepal’s former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has accused the KP Sharma Oli-led government of weaponising state power against him as he faces a legal battle over alleged cooperative fraud.
In an exclusive interview with WION’s Nepal Correspondent Saloni Murarka at Nakkhu Jail in Kathmandu, where he is currently in judicial custody on charges of embezzling millions of rupees deposited by the public in the Butwal-based Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperative, Lamichhane claimed he has been unfairly targeted for political reasons.
The cooperative fraud case alleges that Lamichhane and others transferred over NRs 109 million from the Butwal-based Supreme Cooperative to Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd, thereby misappropriating the funds.
Cases have been filed in Kaski (Suryadarshan Cooperative), Chitwan (Sahara Cooperative), Kathmandu (Swarnalaxmi Cooperative), and Parsa (Sano Paila Cooperative). In all the districts, Lamichhane has been accused of diverting deposits to Gorkha Media Network, which ran the now-defunct Galaxy 4K Television.
The former home minister, in a scathing attack on the government, alleged that the assault on him had been deliberate.
“I will fully comply with all legal procedures, as I have faith in our judiciary. This is a democratic country, and I stand firmly for democracy. Democracy hasn’t wronged me, but politics has, the political leadership has particularly (Prime Minister) Oli and (former prime minister) Sher Bahadur Deuba,” Lamichhane told WION.
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Lamichhane was arrested from his party office in Kathmandu on 18 October 2024 by a team from the Central Investigation Bureau on charges of organised crime and misappropriation of cooperative funds.
Seated at a lawn in Nakkhu Jail, Lamichhane told WION the present coalition government, led by two of Nepal’s largest parties, has failed to live up to its commitments despite commanding a strong majority in parliament.
“The established parties always hide behind the excuse of not having the numbers in Parliament to justify their inaction. But now, with the two biggest parties together in government, numbers are no longer an issue. So why are they still unable to deliver on constitution amendment? Why haven’t they done anything concrete for the people?”
Lamichhane, also chair of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) dismissed any regrets about joining hands with these political parties to form a government in previous years.
The RSP chair further emphasized that his party will not align with other political parties to form a government in the future and is focused on securing a majority in the 2027 general elections. In Nepal, most governments have historically relied on coalitions due to a highly fragmented political landscape.
“Our goal is to form a majority government in the upcoming general elections. In our first electoral contest, we captured 21 seats, breaking the hold of established parties, and next time, we aim to secure the required two-thirds majority.”
Speaking about his plans to form a government, Lamichhane said his party is undergoing significant restructuring and systemic reforms.
“We are ready to contest the upcoming elections. However, the RSP requires major system-level changes, and we have been actively working on them. We require nearly 36,000 party workers to strengthen our base. It will take at least another 20 years to establish RSP as a political party,” the party chairman told WION.
His party, the RSP, has launched what is considered the largest nationwide signature campaign in Nepal’s history, having collected nearly 40 lakh signatures so far.
According to the party, the campaign is intended to showcase broad public support for Lamichhane and rally solidarity against what it claims are politically motivated actions targeting its leadership.
Meanwhile, the former Home Minister and founder of RSP, the fourth largest party in the parliament, has denied the charges of money laundering, cooperative fraud, and organised crime.
While, in 2024, a parliamentary committee formed to investigate the cooperative scam prepared and tabled a report in parliament in September 2024. This report indicted Lamichhane for embezzling millions of rupees as part of the scam.
The seven-membered committee formed in May last year was tabled in the parliament, which was formally endorsed by the house session. The report concludes that millions of rupees injected into Gorkha Media came from cooperatives which were traded based on forged documents.
Former home minister Lamichhane had worked in Gorkha Media, the parent company of now defunct Galaxy 4K Television, as managing director at the time when cooperative savings were invested, violating cooperative legislation. Incumbent parliamentarian also had clarified that he was engaged in Gorkha Media taking a sweat share.
Lamichhane later in the year 2022 entered politics, announcing the formation of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, and entered the federal parliament as a parliamentarian, contesting the election the same year.
The committee in its report has also recommended that the government take legal action against everyone involved in the transfer of money to Gorkha Media from various cooperatives.
The report has stated that embezzlement of amounts was completed in the active involvement of GB Rai, Kumar Ramtel, Rabi Lamichhane (then managing director), and Chhabi Lal Joshi. Rai and Lamichhane had operated a joint account in the bank and had issued cheques amounting to millions, which shows their involvement, the committee report includes.
"Every company has its own objective and spirit. Promoters and shareholders are the ones with the main responsibilities in such institutions. Those in the role and responsibility as shareholders, promoters and managing directors cannot be allowed to not be responsible and accountable for the money received by the company," the report stressed.
During the investigation, the committee also had held inquiry session with former Home Minister and incumbent chairperson of RSP Lamichhane for over 10 hours. Throughout the inquiry session he claimed to be unaware about the transfers that were made to the Gorkha Media originated from cooperatives, that too savings of about 50,000 people.
