Cooperative investigation committee submits report to HoR

KATHMANDU: A parliamentary special committee formed to investigate the alleged misappropriation of the cooperative funds submitted its report to the House of Representatives (HoR).

Committee Chair Surya Bahadur Thapa Chhetri presented the report before the Committee.

The seven-member committee was constituted on May 28 as per the wider demand to investigate the alleged misappropriation of a huge cooperative fund.

The committee President said the committee commenced its work on June 5 and held 66 meetings during the period of the investigation. It was focused on finding the facts behind the matter through interrogations, discussions, and inquiries.

Though the committee sought the presence of 29 people including GB Rai for interrogation, only some people approached the committee.  The document is oriented to finding out issues in the cooperative operations and advising solutions.

The committee talked to 451 representatives from various sectors and recorded statements from 47 alleged cooperative proprietors including the Gorkha Media Network. It interrogated them in the 14 meetings.

It sat for talks with various authorities concerned to discuss the concept of cooperatives and its crisis.

President Thapa said that he has given suggestions on 14 issues related to the regulation of cooperatives and presented eight suggestions regarding Gorkha Media. He said, “The cooperative sector is in a state of decline, but there is also a lot of potentiality. Collective efforts are needed to revive and rebuild cooperatives.”

Thapa stressed on strengthening the national economy through cooperatives. He further added that there were several irregularities, fraud and fake documentation in cooperative sectors. “There were several fake account holders and fake divorce and marriage cases to cheat cooperatives. Activities against law and morals were found in several places in the course of investigation,” Thapa said.

He informed that the last meeting of the committee today passed the report and submitted it to the Parliament. Thapa, the president of the committee, also requested that the report was prepared in 18 chapters based on the facts and the issues mentioned in the report and that it should be implemented. He expressed his gratitude for the support of the government, parliament, ministers and all stakeholders in the course of investigation.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire instructed the Parliament Secretariat to send the report to the Government of Nepal for necessary action.

Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung, on the behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, presented the ‘Annual Report of the National Information Commission, Fiscal Year 2079/80’ in the meeting.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ajaya Kumar Chaurasiya, tabled all the questions and their answers that were received from various ministries during the current session of Parliament.

The questions and answers tabled in the House today are related to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

Similarly, lawmaker Sita Mijar presented the Annual Report of the Industry and Commerce, and Labour and Consumer Interests Committee-2081.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire read out a letter received from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, related to the allocation of additional ministerial portfolios.