Sudhir Basnet arrested on fraud charges

KATHMANDU, JAN 05 -

Metropolitan Police Crime Investigation Division has arrested Sudhir Basnet, chief of Oriental Housing and Oriental Cooperative, on fraud charges.

Acting on complaints filed by individuals who claimed that Basnet owes over Rs 100 million to them, the police nabbed Basnet from his residence in Baneshwor, Kathmandu, on Friday.

The police said cases such as cheque bounce and delay in handing over apartment of his housing projects have been registered against Basnet, who was also arrested some three months ago over cheque bounce.

Basnet is currently facing multiple problems in his business ventures, including real estate, airlines and cooperative. His Oriental Savings and Credit Cooperative owes Rs 3.89 billion to over 7,000 depositors.

On Thursday, his debt-ridden Agni Air was put up for auction by a consortium of banks that financed the carrier which has failed to meet the loan repayment deadline.

The consortium has issued a seven-day auction notice for the sale of Agni’s five aircraft — three Jetstream 41s and two Dorniers — spare parts and land plots in Bhaktapur. The banks — Grand Bank, Sunrise Bank and International Leasing and Finance Company — have lent Rs 650 million to Agni Air.

Source: The Kathmandu Post