It has been almost a year since Balgopal Shrestha, chairman of Tapain Hamro Cooperatives in Kushma of Parbat district, went out of contact after embezzling around Rs290 million of depositors’ savings. For the past eight months, the victims have been protesting, demanding the return of their deposits and strong action against the guilty, but he remains elusive.

Victims claim that the accused is now in Australia and complain that the district administration and police have not supported them to recover the money. “We have not received support from the district administration to recover our funds,” said Nabin Kumar Paudel, who became chairman of the cooperatives after Shrestha fled.

As per the study conducted by the Office of the Cooperatives Registrar in Pokhara, Shrestha had issued Rs21 million in loans to his relatives that is yet to be recovered. The Office of the Cooperative Registrar submitted its report to the Office of District’s Attorney in Parbat stating that Shrestha swindled around Rs290 million.

The Office of District’s Attorney filed a fraud case against Shrestha, but he is still at large.

Between 2020 and 2023, Shrestha had issued loans to 13 individuals through the Tapain Hamro Cooperatives. He loaned Rs3.7 million loan to his mother Shakuntala, Rs3.5 million to his brother Kishwor, and Rs3.5 million to Kishwor’s wife Binita. Similarly, Rs3.7 million went to his brother-in-law Karna Bahadur Shrestha, and Rs5 million to his another brother-in-law named Rajendra Shrestha. They have not repaid the loans yet. The cooperative victims have been urging the district administration to recover the loans and return their money.

“The cooperatives has issued about Rs190 million in loans, including to Shrestha’s relatives. Around Rs120 million should be returned to depositors. The cooperatives can easily return money to the depositors if the district administration helps in recovering the loans,” said Paudel.

After Shrestha fled, the shareholders of the cooperatives held a special annual general meeting and elected Paudel as chairman four months ago. According to Paudel, the cooperatives recovered Rs1.5 million loans and returned the sum to the most impoverished depositors.

Tapain Hamro Cooperatives has 104 shareholders. The Office of District’s Attorney in Parbat had filed cases against Shrestha and 21 other members of the cooperative in January, but most of the accused are on the run.

The cooperative victims met with Chief District Office Kedarnath Sharma and requested him to help them recover their deposits. “The victims met me. I am aware of their suffering. We will recover the loans and return money to the depositors,” said Sharma. “The police are unable to issue an Interpol red corner notice against the individuals because the case is still sub judice. The red corner notice can be issued soon if the court convicts them.”

The District Police Office in Parbat has also promised to to help the depositors to get their money back. Deputy Superintendent of Police Khumlal Bhusal said that police are positive about issuing red corner notice against Shrestha by following due process.

Meanwhile in Kathmandu, cooperative victims staged demonstrations by forming a human chain on Thursday. Hundreds of cooperative victims encircled the Tundikhel and Ratnapark area standing along the road joining hands with each other.

The demonstrators, who were organised by the ‘national campaign to protect cooperative depositors’, said they had to continue with their protests owing to government apathy towards implementing the past agreements and recovering their deposits.

A parliamentary special committee has been investigating the issue as thousands of victims took to the streets in Kathmandu and various other parts of the country demanding recovery of their money.

Various studies have shown that hundreds of cooperatives have embezzled billions of rupees in public deposits.