KATHMANDU: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested Shashidhar Sharma (Shashi Sharma Paudel), chairman of Asian Village Resort Pvt. Ltd., on charges of banking offenses involving the alleged misuse of loan funds.
The CIB said the investigation was launched under the Banking Offense and Punishment Act based on a special on-site inspection report prepared by the Nepal Rastra Bank’s Bank Supervision Department in June.
According to the report, Asian Village Resort Pvt. Ltd. had obtained a Rs 480 million loan from Prabhu Bank to build a resort and purchase land.
However, investigators allege that instead of mortgaging the land to the bank as required, the company signed an undertaking to do so later and diverted the loan to repay outstanding debts of individuals with family ties to the company’s chairman and other firms within the same business group.
The CIB said the alleged diversion of the loan violated Section 8 of the Banking Offense and Punishment Act.
Acting on a request from Nepal Rastra Bank, the CIB obtained permission from the Patan High Court and arrested the 58-year-old Sharma from Pingalasthan in Kathmandu Metropolitan City-9 on Tuesday. He is a resident of Tilottama Municipality-4 in Rupandehi.
Meanwhile, a CIB official said investigators have identified suspicious financial transactions involving Sharma and former Finance Minister and CPN-UML Vice Chair Bishnu Paudel. Police sources said Sharma’s arrest followed a referral from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.
The department is also continuing its investigation into Bishnu Poudel. According to the source, he has been kept in custody after multiple extensions of his detention period.
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