Anjala Koirala, wife of Rishikesh Pokharel, chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, appeared at the District Court in Morang on Wednesday in connection with the Uma Gauri Cooperative fraud case.

On December 12 last year, the District Attorney’s Office in Morang filed a case at the district court against Koirala and others for allegedly embezzling around Rs220 million from the cooperative. Following the filing, Koirala, a teacher at Mahendra Night School in Biratnagar, had been absconding. House committee chair Pokharel is a leader from the prime minister’s party, the CPN-UML.

Koirala appeared in court during office hours on Wednesday. The case has been scheduled for a detention hearing before Judge Uddhav Prasad Bhattarai. According to court officials, the detention hearing will proceed after her statement is recorded.

A total of 26 individuals, including the cooperative’s chairperson, Shyam Kumar Rauniyar, have been indicted in the case. One suspect is currently in judicial custody, another has been released on bail, while 23 others remain at large.