Mar 24, Kathmandu - Senior advocate Dr. Surendra Bhandari has said that it is malicious to try to withdraw other cases against people who should have been charged with jail break against Rastriya Swantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane.

Arguing on behalf of the writ petitioner, senior advocate Dr. Surendra Bhandari directly called the decision of the Attorney General's Office 'malicious'. “When one Attorney General has filed a supplementary charge after investigation, another cannot withdraw it and it seems malicious to try to withdraw other cases of a person who should be prosecuted for jail break,” he argues.

Senior Advocate Dr. Surendra Bhandari’s argument is not just a legal argument, it is also the most acute question raised about political interference in Nepal’s justice system and the role of the Attorney General. Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), is accused of embezzling billions of rupees from thousands of depositors in organizations including Suryadarshan Cooperative (Kaski), Supreme Cooperative (Rupandehi), Swarnalaxmi Cooperative (Kathmandu), Sano Paila Cooperative (Parsa).

The previous Attorney General’s Office had added the offenses of organized crime (Section 106 of the Civil Code, 2074) and money laundering (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2068) along with cooperative fraud to the chargesheet filed in the district court. However, on Paush 30, Attorney General Sabita Bhandari Baral, through a seven-page ‘comment and order’, directed the district government attorneys’ offices to amend the charges and remove these two offenses, and prosecute only cooperative fraud. She argues that the path of settlement should be kept open to return the money to the victims.

Yubaraj Poudel Safal, senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi, Abhas Regmi and others have called this decision ‘interference in a case that has already entered the court’ in the writ filed. Although Section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2074 provides for amendment of charges, the main question is whether the Attorney General can withdraw the charge once registered once the case is pending in the court.