Exim Cooperative in trouble
KATHMANDU, DEC 03 -
After Crystal Finance, another financial institution promoted by the same group, Exim Multipurpose Cooperative, has landed in trouble due to unethical behaviour on the part of the promoters.
Around 1,700 depositors have not been able to withdraw their money for the last year. The cooperative has deposits worth Rs 470 million, said the depositors.
Crystal finance had landed in trouble due to a similar reason and the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has declared it crisis-ridden. Crystal Chairman Dibya Kumar Shrestha is currently behind bars.
Shrestha’s brother Komal Kumar Shrestha is the vice-chairman of the board of directors of Exim, while former chief executive officer of Crystal Ram Prasad Hada is the chairman. Hada is currently on the run.
Rewanta Bahadur Khatri, a porter from Yasam VDC-4, Okhaldhunga, has deposited Rs 450,000 — his earnings of 15 years — in Exim. “My mother is hospitalised at Patan Hospital, but I am finding it difficult to manage money for her treatment,” he said. “I am in dilemma whether to frequent the cooperative for my money or go for work.” He has not received his deposits since last July.
Another depositor Gagan Pradhan from Jayabageshwori, Kathmandu, has deposits worth Rs 7 million stuck in the cooperative. His family has been depositing money in Exim for the last decade. “I have not received my deposits for the last year,” said Pradhan, complaining that every time he went to the cooperative office, they returned him promising to pay back his money the next day.
Not only the general people, even Exim’s employees are not getting they deposits back. Keshri Maharjan is the assistant accountant at Exim, but she does not know how the deposits were used. Her family has deposited around Rs 3.5million in the cooperative for the last seven years. “We have not been able to withdraw our money for the last year and I have not received my salary for the last six months,” she said.
Raj Narayan Maske, former peon of Nepal Bank Limited, deposited the amount he received after retiring at the cooperative in his wife’s account. “As the promoters were people I had known, I deposited here. But now I think all my earnings have gone in vein,” he said. He has deposits worth Rs 1.2 million in Exim.
According to details unearthed by the depositors, Exim has lent just Rs 120 million, while its deposits stand at Rs 470 million. The
cooperative should have had huge cash at hand if this figure is to be believed.
But according to the Department of Cooperatives, promoters took most of the depositors’ money for themselves. “That’s why we have already written to the police to take legal action against them on fraud charge,” said Krishna Sharma, an official at the Division Cooperative Office, Kathmandu, which looks after cooperatives based in Kathmandu.
Depositors are making efforts on their own to recover their funds by forming a committee. They are requesting the loanees to pay their outstanding loans. They said their investigation showed even lonaees were fake. “In one of the cases, a supposed loanee paid his loans instantly after receiving the loan and even got the receipt. The money was then used by the promoters,” complained depositors who had gathered at Exim office on Sunday.
Despite being a cooperative, it was run as a family business with both Komal Kumar Shrestha and his wife Sunita Shrestha representing on the board. Going against the Cooperative Act, vice-chairman of Exim’s board is also on the board of Patan Cooperative, according to depositors.
Likewise, treasurer of Exim’s board Saroj Chandra Pradhan also represents in the board of Patan Cooperative. On the other hand, Chairman of Patan Cooperative Nirmala Hada is the wife of Exim Chairman Ram Prasad Hada.
Given this connection, depositors had tried to recover about Rs 40 million deposited by Exim in Patan Cooperative, but to no avail. “We were told that Exim’s vice-chairman and treasurer have taken loans worth Rs 20 million each from Patan Cooperative and that the request could not be entertained,” said the depositors.
A study carried out by the Department of Cooperative with support from the Nepal Rastra Bank among 133 cooperatives over the last three years also found such anomalies in the cooperative sector.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
