MDB credit chief held

POKHARA, July 6: District Police Office (DPO), Kaski, on Wednesday arrested Jhalak Subedi, chief of Credit Department of Muktinath Development Bank (MDB), for his alleged involvement in the fake land ownership based bank loan racket that one Santosh Paudel was running in Pokhara, swindling about Rs 70 million from nine banks and financial institutions (BFIs). A fresh finding by the DPO pointed to the involvement of Subedi in the racket.



“The involvement of Subedi was disclosed by Paudel himself in the statement he recorded to the police,” said Superintendent of Police Yadav Raj Khanal. [break]



Police had summoned Subedi to the DPO for interrogation in the afternoon and detained him on his arrival. It instantly produced him before the District Court and took him on remand for further investigation.



Following such a development, CEOs of more than a dozen BFIs approached Nepal Rastra Bank officials in Pokhara, demanding the central bank to investigate the case itself instead of leaving the matter entirely to the police.



They were mainly anxious that the news of a senior bank official´s involvement in the racket could tarnish the image of the bank. "So, instead of leaving the case with the police, we have requested the central bank to take over the case and investigate it. The central bank has promised to consult the Chief District Officer and DPO over such a possibility," said a banker.



Police had earlier nabbed two aides of Paudel, Kamal Guvaju and Bir Bahadur Bishwokarma, and detained seven staff members of the Land Revenue Office (LRO), Kaski, for their alleged involvement in the racket.



Paudel had influenced LRO officials to prepare fake ownership documents of lands that were already pledged as collateral with other banks. On the basis of those fake documents, Paudel had re-pawned the same plots to get new loans from other banks, swindling Rs 70 million in the process.



Paudel recorded in his statement that he was providing a certain amount of money to Subedi as ´commission for his services´.



Subedi was mainly providing services related to valuation of land. His support was helping Paudel secure higher amounts of loans than what the collateral actually covered. Apart from that, Subedi was also making him available the bank´s documents to create fake land ownership certificates. He was also supplying initial loans documents to Paudel to create fake property ownership certificates.



Sources indicated fresh revelations can also drag the land valuator into the investigation.

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