KATHMANDU: The statement of Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane was recorded at the Kathmandu District Court on Sunday, marking the next step towards a detention hearing in the case against him.
The statement was taken before District Judge Madhav Prasad Adhikari. Following the completion of his testimony, the court will now proceed with the detention hearing.
Lamichhane arrived at the court in Babarmahal early in the morning. If the court decides to demand bail, similar to the Kaski District Court’s decision, Lamichhane may be released. However, if no bail is set or the hearing is delayed, he will remain in custody.
Lamichhane was arrested on October 18 in connection with the Suryadarshan Cooperative fraud case. After spending 84 days in custody, he was released last Thursday upon depositing Rs 6.5 million in bail.
However, he is now facing another case concerning misappropriation of savings from Swarnalakshmi Multipurpose Cooperative, located in Kalimati. Although he was expected to appear in court on Friday, time constraints delayed his appearance until Sunday.
Lamichhane’s wife, Nikita Poudel, explained that he couldn’t reach the court earlier as he only arrived in Kathmandu late Friday night after being released from Kaski District Police custody.
The current case pertains to allegations of embezzling Rs 1.19 billion from 690 depositors of the Swarnalakshmi Multipurpose Cooperative.
The Kathmandu District Police Office had recommended filing charges against Lamichhane and 38 others on January 5.
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