Pawan Kumar Karki, the former Managing Director of Capital Merchant Banking and Finance in Kathmandu, is now in the United States of America.
The court of Nepal convicted and sentenced him to prison.
It means nothing to him in America because Karki has invalidated the Interpol red notice issued to arrest him.
The then Appellate Court, Patan, sentenced him to one and a half years imprisonment and a fine of more than 3.5 crores in May, 2014. Pawan has not yet served the said sentence.
As many as 20 people from Mukhiya Village, Dhulikhel Municipality, Kavre, his ancestral home, are still in jail, 15 were incarcerated and released while 10 people are absconding.
The land of Shambhu Karki of Dhulikhel was transferred in the name of 35 people of Mukhiya village. It was all because of taking a loan from the bank.
A new company was set up on the assurance of these innocent locals of Mukhiya village.
Loans were taken against the land and company.
The loan taken in the name of the villagers was used by people including Pawan Karki.
They did not pay the loan taken with ill intent.
After that, the bank went door to door looking for people who had been issued loans. The company also turned out to be fake.
The mortgaged land also did not reach the valuation.
Capital Merchant Banking and Finance appealed to Rastra Bank after the loan of 3 billion could not be recovered from the mortgage.
The Rastra Bank directed the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police to arrest and proceed with the investigation.
In 2070 BS, Rastra Bank filed a case on the charge of defrauding the bank by embezzling loans worth three billion rupees.
In which there were directors, employees of Capital Merchant Banking and Finance, and 44 borrowers.
The court ruled that they were guilty.
Pawan Karki, the main mastermind, had reached America by that time. Those caught in this incident have stated that Pawan Karki is the main accused.
Later, the police headquarters issued a red notice to arrest Karki through Interpol to pay the penalty. But five years after it was issued, Karki managed to annul the red notice.
Now he is living carefree in America. Shambhu KC, who was connected with him as a co-accomplice in this case, has been released after serving two years of imprisonment.
Others are serving prison terms. Two people have already died. Some are mentally disturbed. Some have escaped.
How Interpol's "Red Notice" was canceled
After the court found him guilty, the police issued a red notice against Pawan through Interpol. According to the police headquarters, a red notice was issued against him in 2016.
After knowing that a red notice had been issued against him, he appealed to Interpol's "Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files" stating that he was innocent.
This commission decides after further study of the notices issued by Interpol on appeal.
Karki appealed saying that he was not given an opportunity to defend himself in this case. This Interpol committee decided to further study his appeal.
The Committee also sent a letter to Nepal Police inquiring about Karki's appeal. Nepal Police sent a letter to Interpol informing about the crime against him and the process leading up to the verdict.
After the response of the Nepal Police, the commission of Interpol decided to remove the red notice issued against Karki in 2021. With this, Karki was freed from international police surveillance.
Now in America he has no stress due to this incident. But if the Nepal police find him, he will be sent to court for serving the sentence.
Such is the design of the multi-crore fraud
Various companies were set up to take loans from Capital Merchant Banking and Finance. These institutions were also named after the locals of Mukhiya village. It was orchestrated by individuals including Pawan from finance.
Ganesh Umesh Furniture Industry, Sajan Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd, Shree Krishna Tea Industry, Sita Khandsari Sugar Mill, Setidevi Furniture Industry, Sribudha Mahankal Food Production Industry, RK Steel Furniture Industry, Jessop Food Production, Mega Suppliers, Rubisa Food Store were established as companies. Loans were issued in the name of those companies.
Similarly, loans were taken from Finance in the name of Subindra Shrestha Riddhisiddhi Beaten Rice Mill, Rajesh Kashta Udyog, Sambriddhi Investment Company Pvt Ltd, Kavre Broiler Suppliers, Manoram Housing, Fulchoki Dana Udyog, Sriganesh Gentle Film Production, Chitrakumar Shrestha Hallmark Restaurant. One billion 474 million and 975 thousand rupees loan was issued in the name of these companies.
Pawan Kumar Karki along with Amirjung Khadka, Murari Karki, Januka KC, Shriram Khatri among others were made defendants for their role in issuing the loan. The Central Bank filed a complaint on June 24, 2011 demanding action against them.
However, the people who were made defendants in this crime stated that Pawan Kumar Karki was the main mastermind.
Januka KC said in a statement, "Pawan Kumar Karki is a relative of my son-in-law. In his trust, I gave my citizenship and signed as he said. Now I have come to know that those companies are also in my name. I am innocent. They misused the money."
Amirjung Khadka, who was involved in this incident, also gave a similar statement. He is also a relative of Pawan. He had also given a statement that he had been tricked like Januka. Later, during the investigation, the Rastra Bank itself sent a letter stating that there was no involvement of them.
But Pawan Kumar Karki and Hari Prasad Acharya were accused of preparing various documents and submitting them to the bank, claiming that the project was in operation, but under the influence of the bank's employees and officials, and giving loans.
It is mentioned that the actions of these two have caused a loss of 209.6 million 24 thousand 462 rupees in the organization.
"Looking at the role played by Pawan Kumar Karki sitting behind the scenes in the loan disbursement, even the chief planner was seen as the link between the finance company and the borrowers in the disbursement of loans," said the judgment.
But the court held that there is no evidence that Karki has misused the entire loan and that there is no situation where the punishment can be imposed as per the demand. Judging that Karki's role was seen as an act of disincentive to take loans with wrong intentions, the court decided to punish him according to sub-section (6) of Section 15 of the Banking Offenses and Punishment Act, 2064.
According to which, Pawan Kumar Karki was sentenced to one and a half years in prison and a fine of Rs 349 million 37 thousand 410.
