9 held for embezzling over Rs 330 m of Agricultural Development Bank

KATHMANDU: In one of its biggest investigations into banking fraud cases in the nation, the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police arrested nine suspects, including four officials of Agricultural Development Bank Swoyambhu Branch, for embezzling more than Rs 330 million in a manner to cause a huge loss to the bank.

The CIB on Thursday said it arrested Gita Panta (accountant), Bharat Bahadur Baniya (branch manager), Suman Bhujel (section officer) and Kedar Prasad Gautam (section officer) of the bank and their associates Samjhana Pokharel, Surya Bahadur Limbu, Sandeep Gupta, Jeni Shrestha and Ram Kumar Kumhar.

Gautam, Shrestha, Pokharel and Limbu were apprehended from Indo-Nepal border of Kakarbhitta, Jhapa while others were nabbed from various places of the Kathmndu Valley separately over a period of one week, according to police.

Panta, Baniya, Bhujel and Gautam were key perpetrators of the case, according to police.

They were accused of transferring huge sums of remittance to seven other branches of the bank in the Valley by opening 10 accounts in the name of various persons with forged documents.

They later withdrew more than Rs 330 million from the accounts between mid-September 2014 and mid-July 2015, according to police.

According to CIB, Kedar and Gita misused the passwords of inputter and authoriser to transfer the remittance amount to other branches of the bank in the names of their associates.

Krishna Hari Thapa aka Rajiv of Daduwa-10, Ramechhap, staying in India for the past 14 years, is said to be the mastermind behind the fraud. He is at large.

All the arrestees and Thapa had shared the amount they embezzled, according to police.

UPDATED