Kathmandu. Complaints ranging from the directors of Prabhu Bank, to the CEO of Kumari Bank to the victims of Nepal Investment Mega Bank have started reaching the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is the regulator of Nepal’s banks. It is customary for other agencies to coordinate with the Rastra Bank in the case of big cases even when investigating banking frauds. However, in recent times, the victims have started approaching the Prime Minister’s Office, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and other bodies instead of the Rastra Bank’s grievance hearing unit.
A complaint has been lodged against Ambika Sharma Lamichhane, the director of Prabhu Bank, at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. She has been accused of taking crores of rupees from the bank through Saraswati Events, which is in the name of her son. The evidence of this has already been publicly revealed. However, the Nepal Rastra Bank has not shown any inclination to take action against him. The prevailing law does not allow the operator to act in a conflict of interest. However, the case has reached the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers after the Rastra Bank remained silent despite the practice of irregularities like that of Prabhu Bank’s director Ambika Sharma Lamichhane.
Meanwhile, Uttam Kumar has also filed a complaint at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat accusing Nepal Investment Mega Bank of cheating him. A complaint has been lodged at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat alleging that the then Mega Bank had given loans to blacklisted individuals, and committed many other frauds and frauds. A case is pending against the officials of Nepal Investment Mega Bank on the charge of selling government property.
Similarly, complaints have been lodged with various agencies stating that the CEO of Kumari Bank misused the name of the Rastra Bank to carry out various illegal activities by imposing the officials of the Rastra Bank, showing fake profits, false arithmetic of his progress and that the Rastra Bank did not want to take risks to remove him from the post which has already been disqualified by the Supreme Court.
The central bank is the authority to look after what goes wrong with the banks. But when the police started arresting the CEO, catching the chairman of the bank, and not even looking at the mischief done by the CEO of the Rastra Bank, the police and the government have started saying that the Rastra Bank does nothing at the level of the people. This has raised questions about the image of the central bank, which is said to be a strong regulator. Which can’t be right. On the contrary, there is no doubt that it can have a very long-term impact.
Until recently, the same Rastra Bank had said that Karnali Development Bank was all right. Later, the central bank took over the bank and a big banking scam case came out. Later, a Rastra Bank official who went to Karnali Development Bank for an inspection was arrested by the police on the charge of taking an iPhone and cash bribe. A case of Rastra Bank employee who went to Prabhu Bank for inspection also came to light that his wife was given a job while she was being inspected. Later, the Rastra Bank itself took action against Prabhu Bank. After the loan given by the then Governor of the Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, to a mail industry, went bad, the Rastra Bank again made provision of the loan. Now, even though the Supreme Court has disqualified some CEOs, the Rastra Bank is trying to protect those CEOs due to political pressure.
Such actions have raised the question of whether the people’s trust in the NRB is being diminished. Whereas the Rastra Bank is a temple where the deity does not do injustice and does not chase the wrongdoers.
