The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the fourth largest in Parliament, is fiercely resisting what it claims are government moves to arrest its chair, Rabi Lamichhane, over allegations of his involvement in cooperatives fraud. But all the other national parties seem to be in favour of his prosecution.

Among the seven national parties in Parliament, there is a growing consensus for holding Lamichhane accountable. A party needs to win at least one FPTP seat and get three percent proportional representation votes to get national party status.

Ruling coalition partners such as the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, Ashok Rai’s Janata Samajbadi Party, and the Janamat Party believe that RSP chair Lamichhane should face the law. Additionally, the CPN (Maoist Centre), the main opposition in Parliament, along with the Rastriya Prajantra Party and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-Nepal), both of which are outside the coalition, also support the parliamentary probe’s findings and advocate action against Lamichhane.

The CPN (Unified Socialist), which is not a national party but has 10 seats in the lower house, has also joined the ranks of parties that want Lamichhane prosecuted.

“Our party believes that, as a matter of principle, no innocent should be punished, and no guilty evade the law,” says the Maoist Centre Secretary Devendra Paudel.

On the probe panel’s findings, Paudel said, “Evidence suggests that Lamichhane misused cooperative funds,” Paudel told the Post. “He should be held accountable for his actions as per the law.”

A source close to Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak while talking to the Post said, “If everything goes as planned, the police will arrest Lamichhane soon.”

However, during a recent interview with Kantipur Television’s Fireside program, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the chairman of the Maoist Centre, was noncommittal on whether Lamichhane should be prosecuted for misusing cooperative funds.

But party secretary Paudel said his party would take a stand against Lamichhane’s misuse of cooperative funds.

Unified Socialist spokesperson Jagannath Khatiwada says that the probe panel’s recommendations should be implemented. “Although our party has yet to take an official position on it, I can say that our leaders are discussing the parliamentary probe report and there is a general consensus that the report’s recommendations should be implemented.”

“The report suggests that the government should further investigate and prosecute four key people [Rabi Lamichhane, GB Rai, Chhabi Joshi, and Kumar Ramtel] involved in the misuse of multiple cooperative funds, and our party supports the report,” Khatiwada told the Post. “Those proven guilty should be booked under the prevailing laws.”

While Rai is on the run, Ramtel is in judicial custody of Kaski police. After arresting Joshi, Police are now waiting for the government’s green light to arrest Lamichhane, who has twice served as deputy prime minister and home minister.

The Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-Nepal), led by Upendra Yadav, also views Lamichhane as culpable in the misuse of the cooperative funds and disputes the RSP’s claim that he got a clean chit from the parliamentary special probe.

“Our party does not want to disrespect any political leaders as such, but that does not mean a guilty individual should escape legal repercussions,” Manish Kumar Suman, the party central spokesperson, told the Post. “The report clearly indicates Lamichhane’s involvement in misusing cooperative funds, so there is no question of him getting a clear chit, unlike what the RSP leaders claim.”

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Vice President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan says the parliamentary probe panel, which investigated crisis-ridden cooperatives, has done its job and submitted a report and now it is the government’s responsibility to act on the recommendations.

“As for our party’s position, Lamichhane should be prosecuted under the prevailing laws, as per the special committee’s report,” Pradhan told the Post.

Lamichhane is accused of siphoning funds from multiple cooperatives to run the Gorkha Media Network, which operated the Galaxy 4k Television channel. The channel shut down last year. Chairman GB (Gitendra Babu) Rai and managing director Lamichhane jointly ran the media company before Lamichhane quit it to join politics in June 2022.

On September 16, the parliamentary special committee submitted its report to Speaker Ghimire, who forwarded it to the government on the same day. On September 19, the Cabinet owned the report and ordered responsible ministries to act based on its findings.

The probe panel’s report does not directly implicate Lamichhane in rerouting cooperative funds into the media, but it does label him guilty of using cooperative funds for Gorkha Media Network. The panel has recommended that the government prosecute Lamichhane; his business partner Rai; one of the founders of Gorkha Media Company, Chhabi Joshi; and board member Kumar Ramtel.

As the panel report could not establish a direct link between Lamichhane and the rerouting of cooperative funds, RSP leaders interpret it as a ‘clean chit’ for their party chief. But leaders from other parties reject this claim.

“The way RSP leaders are trying to interpret the probe panel’s report is distortion,” Pradhan said.

Based on the report, the crime division of Nepal Police arrested Joshi, former deputy inspector general of Nepal Police and one of the founders of Gorkha Media Network, on the orders of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak on Sunday. Following this, RSP chair Lamichhane organised a gathering of party sympathisers at his office to condemn the government amid rumours of his impending arrest.

While addressing supporters at the RSP headquarters in Balaju, Kathmandu on Sunday evening, he urged them to be prepared to defend their new political force, claiming that a plan was afoot to ‘finish Rabi Lamichhane and the Rastriya Swatantra Party.’

The erstwhile main opposition party, Nepali Congress, had continuously disrupted the parliamentary proceedings for over two months demanding a probe into the cooperatives scam, especially its connections to the Gorkha Media Network. In response, the immediate past government led by Maoist Centre chair Dahal had formed the parliamentary special probe panel.