Special Court Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki and members Om Prakash Mishra and Kedar Prasad Chalise issued the verdicts to that effect.[break]
The bank´s Rani Branch located in Biratnagar is owed Rs 867 million in principle and Rs 510.18 million in interest by industrialists including Subodhkumar Agrawal, Sureshkumar Agrawal, Krishnakumar Agrawal, Narayan Agrawal, Damodar Agrawal and Mangaturam Agrawal.
The bench concluded that there was gross misuse of legal provisions and banking procedures while issuing credit to various companies belonging to the aforesaid industrialists.
“The bench hereby concludes that the Rani Branch of Rastriya Banijya Bank issued loans exceeding the limits and against inadequate collateral,” reads the verdict adding, “It has been proved that the branch also flouted existing legal provisions and issued credit to those who failed to clear past loans. Thus those who issued and obtained the loans hereby stand convicted on corruption charges”.
The court has slapped six month jail terms on former managers of the bank Radha Prasad Shah, Chandra Lal Amatya, Shiba Charan Mandal and Bhairab Prasad Pokharel, convicting them of causing loss to the bank and deriving illicit personal benefit from the loan transactions.
“Their exceeding legal limits while issuing loans and failure to follow proper legal procedures has incurred financial damage to the bank while they themselves are found to have enjoyed illicit benefits,” states the verdict.
The Special Court has slapped one year jail terms on the six Agrawal brothers for loan default.
“The six Agrawal brothers are hereby convicted of obtaining loans without depositing adequate collateral and clearing past loans, in blatant violation of legal provisions,” reads the verdict, adding, “The six Agrawal brothers are also found to have been involved in siphoning off loans acquired for one project to others.”
The court has said that about Rs 1.38 billion has to be recovered from the Agrawal brothers as fine.
The court has acquitted bank assistants Birendra Lal Chhote and Shyamkumar Shrestha of corruption charges. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed corruption charges against the bank managers and loan defaulters six years ago.
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