Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: Nepal Investment Mega Bank (NIBL) has issued arrest warrants against its chairman Prithvi Bahadur Pandey and other directors of the bank. An arrest warrant has been issued against them for illegally auctioning the property of Smart Cell. Pandey is currently in the US while the rest of the directors who have been issued arrest warrants are absconding. Police are searching for them.
The police had gone to the court on Friday to get an arrest order against them. Police have launched a search operation after getting permission from the court. According to sources, the police had sought permission from the court to issue arrest warrants against a total of 11 people.
Police are investigating all the directors and two managers of the bank. One of the operators, Madan Acharya, is also in touch with the police. He has already appeared before the CIB and given a statement. During his statement, he claimed that he was present at the decision-making meeting but did not sign the decision.
Bhupendra Bahadur Bhandari, the then chairman of Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), has been arrested in connection with the case. The bank accounts of all those who have been issued arrest warrants have been frozen.
A few days ago, in a meeting with the Finance Minister, the CEO of the bank, Jyoti Prakash Pandey, had hinted that the government was trying to arrest the directors in the name of investigation. CEO Pandey himself was arrested while absconding in this case and later the Supreme Court ordered his release from custody to investigate the case.
The bank’s operations have also been affected after all the directors of the bank’s board were included in the police search list.
