13k plaints lodged at recovery panel
Although the commission, led by former chairman of Special Court Gauri Bahadur Karki, had set December 28, 2013 deadline for registering complaints , it has been taking in complaints after that date. The commission is currently calculating the exact amount being claimed by depositors for repayment.
According to the commission, the majority of the complaints have been registerd against promoters and directors of the cooperatives for swindling the depositors’ money.
Karki, the commission’s coordinator, said that they have received around 13,000 complaints against 61 cooperatives from across the country. “Most of the complaints are against valley-based cooperatives, but there are around 1,000-2,000 complaints against the cooperatives operating outside the Capital,” he added.
Most of the complaints have been lodged against saving and credit cooperatives, while a considerable number of complaints have also been registered against multipurpose cooperatives.
Despite receiving a large number of complaints , the commission has, however, enquired only five of the troubled cooperatives including Oriental, Guna, Pacific, Corona and Standard so far. “We have asked the rest of the cooperatives to come up with their plans on how they would pay back the depositors,” said Karki, informing that operators of many of the troubled cooperatives were at large after closing their offices. But Karki has assured that they would raid those cooperative offices. “We will seize their official documents to enquire their assets and liabilities.”
Of the troubled cooperatives, Oriental has the biggest liabilities amounting to Rs 3.60 billion, while Guna has Rs 1 billion and Pacific (Rs 30-40 million).
Sushil Ram Mathema, a member of the commission, said that they enquired with Sudhir Basnet of Oriental and Rajendra Shakya of Guna cooperatives regarding their plan on paying back the depositors.
According to Mathema, Basnet has assured to pay back its due by selling three of its housing projects including Vegas City, Imperial Height and Kohinoor. But the projects are far from complete. “Basnet has demanded security for him until he starts selling those properties to pay back his dues,” Mathema said.
He said that Guna has already paid back Rs 81.1 million, including Rs 72.1 million that the cooperative owed to depositors. The remaining amount was paid out to those who had booked apartments developed by his company. Guna Cooperatives has much less liabilities out of the outstanding dues of Rs 1 billion now, according to the commission.
Karki said they were now calculating the exact amount of cliams by the depositors and has initaited the process of hiring experts for the processing of the complaints .
According to him, they will hand over the case to police against those who failed to respond to the commission’s request for investigation. Formed two months ago, the commission has been mandated to assess the audit report of the cooperatives and examine the fixed and movable assets of the operators and their relatives.
Earlier, the committee headed by the NRB deputy governor identified 27 institutions as trouble cooperatives, including Oriental, Guna, Exim, Gaganchuli, Himshikhar, Corona, Ugrachandi and Cosmic. Most of these cooperatives plunged into crisis due to their heavy investment in the real estate sector and bad governance on the part of their directors, particularly the savings and credit cooperatives.
