KATHMANDU: More than a dozen cooperatives in Koshi Province, have allegedly misused over 1 billion rupees belonging to depositors.
According to the Koshi Province Cooperative Registrar’s Office, nine cooperatives within the province’s regulatory area have misappropriated approximately 886 million rupees. Investigations are still underway into into additional cooperatives.
Hari Bahadur Khatri, the head of the Koshi Province Cooperative Registrar’s Office, explained that the office began investigations after receiving complaints about financial misuse in various cooperatives. Some cases have already been filed in court, while others are in mediation.
So far, three cooperatives have had cases registered against them in court, six have completed investigations, and one case has been resolved through mediation.
According to Khatri, a case is currently in court regarding the Sanimai Tea Cooperative in Ilam, where around 4.2 million rupees were misused; the Doramba Agriculture Market Cooperative in Panchthar, with 20 million rupees in misused savings; and the Kakani Gairiban Agriculture Cooperative in Okhaldhunga, involving around 30 million rupees in misused savings.
Other investigations have uncovered that the Nirdhan Utthan Cooperative in Sunsari misused 50 million rupees, the Ambekoshi Cooperative in Itahari misappropriated 610 million rupees, and the Machhapuchhre Cooperative in Biratnagar misused 80 million rupees.
In Jhapa district, three cooperatives were also found to have misused depositor savings. These include the Jaipur Multi-purpose Cooperative, with 50 million rupees in misappropriated savings; the Shubha Sait Cooperative, with 40 million rupees; and the Pratham Paila Cooperative, involving around 6 million rupees.
One particularly large case involving the misuse of 180 million rupees by the Lalupate Cooperative in Khotang’s Diktel area was resolved with the help of the Registrar’s Office, settling the amount to around 130 million rupees through mediation.
Khatri shared that 1,083 cooperatives are registered and operating in Koshi Province, and complaints are continually received regarding financial irregularities in some of these institutions.
The Ungauri Agriculture Cooperative in Morang, the Super Fine Savings and Loan Cooperative in Biratnagar, and the Anugrah Savings and Loan Cooperative in Udayapur are also currently under investigation for alleged fund misuse, but these cases have yet to be finalized.
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