Kathmandu, April 5

The Problematic Cooperatives Wealth Management Committee (PCWMC), which was formed by the government to assess assets and liabilities of troubled Oriental Cooperative and compensate its depositors, is set to auction the cooperative’s assets to recompense the depositors.

The cooperative owned by Sudheer Basnet owes its depositors and others over Rs 16 billion, according to the committee.

“We have already frozen all identified assets of Oriental Cooperative and its owner Basnet and will soon auction them,” Rewati Raman Pokharel, member secretary of the committee, said. The first property that will be auctioned is Vegas City Apartment at Balkumari, according to Pokharel. “We are currently preparing necessary documents to publish a notice to auction the apartment,” said Pokhrel.

The cooperative and its owner Basnet own properties in Bhaktapur, Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Kaski and Morang. The official owners of these properties are Basnet’s wife Nitu Thapa Basnet and his kin.

“We know we won’t be able to compensate all the depositors even after selling these properties, although the value of these assets is yet to be ascertained,” said Pokharel, adding, “The committee will soon track down other assets of Oriental Cooperative and Basnet and auction them gradually.”

Basnet, who was arrested by Nepal Police on Wednesday, was the chief of Oriental Cooperative.

The committee will give priority to depositors at the time of providing compensation following sales of assets owned by Basnet and Oriental Cooperative. The cooperative also owes the government, people who had booked apartments in his housing projects and those who provided credit to build housing projects.

The committee calculated total liability of Oriental Cooperative based on 7,500 complaints filed by the public (depositors), the government, banks and financial institutions, such as Rastriya Banijya Bank, and contractual savings institution, like Employees Provident Fund. Various banks and financial institutions have said they had provided Rs 2.53 billion to housing projects and airlines owned by Basnet.