After the Nepal Police arrested Rabi Lamichhane, the president of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the former deputy prime minister, on Friday for his alleged involvement in the misuse of cooperative funds, people are now asking what will happen to Nepali Congress Vice President Dhanaraj Gurung and CPN-UML lawmaker Rishikesh Pokharel, who are also accused in similar offences.

Supporters of Lamichhane took to the streets in Kathmandu and Pokhara, calling for the arrest of Gurung and Pokharel. They held placards with the names of Lamichhane, Gurung and Pokharel, questioning whether the ruling party lawmakers would also be arrested.

Lamichhane is currently in the custody of the District Police Office, Kaski after a complaint was lodged against him for allegedly misusing funds from the Suryadarshan Cooperative in Pokhara. He is also being investigated for organised crime.

However, the Department of Cooperatives has said no complaints have been filed regarding the alleged misuse of cooperative funds by Gurung and Pokharel.

“Our department has not received any complaints against the cooperatives involving Gurung and Pokharel,” Tol Raj Upadhyaya, the spokesperson of the Department of Cooperatives, told the Post. “Complaints related to cooperatives are reported at the provincial or local level as well, so if there are complaints against them, they may have been filed there.”

The information officer of the Ministry of Industry, Agriculture, and Cooperative of Koshi Province, Lila Ballav Chapagain, said no complaints have been registered against Pokharel and his wife, Anjala Koirala, at the provincial level.

Chapagain also said that the cooperative organisation concerned is currently not functional.

UML leader Pokharel, who chairs the Federal Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, has also been accused of embezzling cooperative funds. His wife, Anjala, previously served on the board of Umagauri Agricultural Cooperative as a director. She is accused of embezzling Rs140 million from the organisation located at Karsiya Baza in ward 4 of Dhanpal Nath Rural Municipality in Morang. The cooperative is now defunct.

Pokharel has been denying any wrongdoing by himself or his wife.

“My wife was merely a witness when some other people from the cooperative took out loans, but this fact has been distorted to cover up the wrongdoings of others,” Pokharel claimed.

“I will defend myself when the new session of the Parliament starts. However, I am also open to an investigation if the state agency wants.”

Pokharel said that he, as the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, raised concerns about corruption in various sectors and claimed that those under investigation have orchestrated a false narrative against him and his wife. He claimed that the CPN (Maoist Centre) was orchestrating the schemes against him and his wife.

Pokharel’s claim holds some water, as he was targeted by the CPN (Maoist Centre) amid escalating tensions within the government. In July, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) cut off power to six industrial firms that failed to pay the tariff for using a specialised feeder and trunk line for electricity. For days, despite a written order from the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the verbal instructions from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, NEA chief Kulman Ghising refused to restore power to the six firms.

After a conflict arose between NEA chief Ghising and Prime Minister Oli, the Public Accounts Committee, headed by Pokharel, raised the issue of corruption at the NEA. In response, leaders of the Maoist Centre leaders brought up allegations of cooperative fraud, suggesting that Pokharel was attempting to deflect attention away from him.

However, Maoist Centre chief whip Hitraj Pandey says that Pokharel and his wife's involvement in cooperative fraud did not come out of nowhere in the media.

“But we fear that as the current government intends to take action against those not in its favour, it might protect those close to it,” Pandey told the Post. “Regarding Pokharel and his wife’s involvement in the cooperative fraud case, the parliamentary special probe committee, which submitted its report last month, also mentions them.”

However, the report does not explicitly name Pokharel and his wife.

“Since there were no complaints against them, our committee did not investigate Pokharel and his wife,” UML lawmaker Sarita Bhusal, who served as a member of the parliamentary special probe committee on cooperatives scam, told the Post.

With no complaint lodged against UML lawmaker Pokharel and his wife, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has began investigating the alleged fraud involving the Miteri Savings and Credit Cooperative, which is connected to Congress Vice President Dhan Raj Gurung and his former wife, Jyoti Gurung.

CIB spokesperson Hobindra Bogati said they are thoroughly reviewing the complaint against the Miteri Cooperatives.

“We are investigating the complaint against Miteri Cooperative, where Dhanraj Gurung and his former wife are allegedly involved,” Bogati told the Post.

After the cooperative’s chairman, Kumbharaj Gurung, filed a complaint with the Department of Cooperatives in August, alleging that Jyoti Gurung, the general manager, embezzled Rs12.5 million, Congress Vice-President Gurung also came under scrutiny. Jyoti Gurung is Dhanaraj Gurung's former wife.

Gurung has denied his involvement in the scam, arguing that his former wife, with whom he no longer has a relationship, misappropriated the money, so he cannot be held accountable.

Despite Gurung’s claim that he separated from his wife in 2019, Miteri Cooperative chair Kumbharaj reported he had registered a complaint against the Gurung duo and informed law enforcement agencies that the lawmaker continued to pay off the debts in his wife’s name until last year.

Various copies of the vouchers Dhan Raj Gurung reportedly used to deposit money into the cooperative’s account have surfaced in various media outlets.

After being charged with embezzling the cooperative's funds, Dhan Raj Gurung, speaking in Parliament on September 10, called for a proper investigation to clear his name.

A parliamentary special probe committee formed to investigate the crisis-ridden cooperatives submitted its report last month. The committee also recommended investigating Gurung and his former wife for misusing the cooperative’s funds.