Five dons hauled to Special Court

KATHMANDU, MAY 20 -

The Department of Money Laundering Investigation on Sunday filed separate cases against five ‘notorious dons’ at the Special Court on the charge of amassing millions of rupees through illegal means.

Charge sheets filed by the anti-money laundering body have accused Ganesh Lama, Deepak Manange, Abhishek Giri, Chakre Milan and Krishna Banset aka Parshuram of amassing property with their involvement in contract work, ransom from business community and commission from smugglers.

Lama, also a central committee member of the Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik), tops the list with Rs 270 million in illegal property. Lama’s family members—including his wife Laxmi Lama and father Pasang Lama—have also been made defendants in the case. Lama owns 14 plots of land in Kathmandu alone.

Manange is charged with possessing Rs 140.7 million in illegal property, Basnet with Rs 110.1 million, Chakre Milan with Rs 70.8 million and Giri with 20.9 million. One of Lama’s latest contracts is related to road-widening in the Capital. The law requires such cases to be filed in the presence of the accused but none of them was seen in the court on Sunday. “They [accused] should be brought before the court while filing cases but the charge sheet has mentioned them as absconding,” said Special Court Registrar Dhir Bahadur Chanda. A court investigation and the hearing procedure will proceed immediately after a notice is issued against them.

The anti-money laundering body had been probing their property for the past three years but its attempts to file cases against them were delayed due to non-cooperation from the then Gachhadar-led Home administration.

Immediately after taking charge of the Home Ministry, Madhav Ghimire had instructed authorities to speed up investigation into the matters related to “politically protected dons”.

All those accused of amassing illegal wealth had political patronage. Basnet has close ties with the CPN-UML. The recently concluded general convention of the Youth Association Nepal elected him to the central committee of the organisation. Manange is affiliated with the little-known Federal Democratic Party. UML supporter Milan is serving a jail term while the remaining four are walking scot-free.

If convicted, they will face jail terms up to four years and will have to pay fines equivalent to the property to be confiscated.

The illegal wealth

Ganesh Lama    :  Rs 270m

Deepak Manange     :  Rs 140.7m

Parshuram Basnet    :  Rs 110.1m

Chakre Milan    :  Rs 70.8m

Abhishek Giri    :  Rs 20.9m

Source: The Kathmandu Post