Kathmandu, November 17

Patan High Court has acquitted 12 people including seven board members of Unity Life International who had been convicted by Lalitpur District Court in a fraud case.

Among the 12 defendants are Indra Bahadur BK, Krishna Bahadur Chhetri, Bishnu Bahadur Chhetri, Lok Bahadur Tandan, Kashi Ram Gurung alias Prasad, Netra Rajbanshi, Bishwanath Gautam, Manoj KC, Bhim Bahadur Gurung and Shishir Yogi.

The lower court had imposed a fine of Rs 1.6 crores on each of the defendants.

According to a source at Patan High Court, Manoj KC is still absconding. Three out of 12 accused are in jail, while others have already served the jail sentence slapped on them by the lower court.

Patan High Court, however, held the seven board members guilty of carrying out transactions without permission of the concerned government agency.

For this offence, the Patan High Court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 and six-month jail sentence on each of the seven board members.

According to the source, the Patan High Court also told the Lalitpur District Court to reopen the case of tax evasion against the accused board members of the Unity Life International after getting evidences from the Department of Revenue Investigation and decide how much tax should be recouped from the accused.

According to the source, the Patan High Court has said that since the company’s assets have been frozen by the government, the customers whose savings were allegedly misused or swindled, will be entitled to get their money with due interest.