Key Takeaways
- Nepal’s former Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lamichhane was arrested over alleged cooperative fraud and organized crime.
- Lamichhane is the chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which is the fourth largest in the House of Representatives.
- The arrest warrant was issued by the Kaski District Court and named Lamichhane and 13 others for allegedly embezzling cooperative funds.
Kathmandu: Nepal’s former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane was arrested on Friday evening over his alleged involvement in cooperative fraud and an organized crime.
A team of the Central Investigation Bureau under Nepal Police took Lamichhane away from his party’s central office in Kathmandu. The Kaski District Court issued an arrest warrant against him and 13 others for allegedly embezzling cooperative funds and involving in organised crime. 13 others were also named in the warrant.
“We have arrested Lamichhane. He will be taken to Kaski,” Hobindra Bogati, the bureau’s spokesperson, told media.
Lamichhane insisted that his arrest is politically motivated. “I respect the court order but it is politically motivated. We will strongly fight against it,” he told media following his arrest.
A parliamentary special investigation committee concluded last month that Lamichhane was involved in embezzling funds from cooperatives.
Lamichhane is chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the fourth largest in the House of Representatives. He first served as deputy prime minister and home minister in December 2022, but lost the post in January 2023 after Nepal’s Supreme Court scrapped his status as a member of the House of Representatives on the grounds that he did not have Nepali citizenship when he contested the elections.
In March this year, Lamichhane regained the post, and he lost it again after the coalition government he served collapsed in July.
