NEPALGUNJ: A large-scale corruption case involving over Rs 3.20 billion has been filed against Karnali Development Bank, headquartered in Nepalgunj.

The case was registered at the Nepalgunj bench of the Tulsipur High Court on Wednesday following an investigation by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police.

Based on CIB’s findings, the District Government Attorney’s Office in Banke lodged the case at the Commercial Bench of the High Court.

According to Bal Bahadur Bista, the court’s information officer, a total of 109 individuals have been named as defendants in the case. Among them, four have been arrested while the remaining 105 are absconding.

The four arrested include Rajendra Bir Raya, the founding chairman of the bank; Pashupati Dayal Mishra, a founding member and former chairman; Bed Prakash Singh Thakuri, the bank’s head of finance; and Bhuvan Basnet, a former employee of Nepal Rastra Bank.

The court has established that the total amount embezzled is Rs 3.20 billion and filed the case accordingly.

The breakdown of the alleged embezzlement reveals that Rs 2.63 billion was siphoned off under the name of Rajendra Bir Raya, Rs 824.6 million under Pashupati Dayal Mishra, Rs 246.3 million under Ved Prakash Singh Thakuri, and Rs 1.09 million under Bhuvan Basnet.

The case file itself consists of 1,087 pages, and the process of reviewing the file is currently underway.

The court will begin recording statements from the arrested individuals starting Thursday, and further legal proceedings will continue thereafter.