Kathmandu, Aug. 6:
The Parliamentary Special Inquiry Committee formed to probe into the recent crisis in the cooperatives sector has faced a difficult time to find the reports of the similar probe committees formed to study the problems of the sector.
Mentioned as 'the third important pillar of the national economy of the country' in the constitution, the cooperative sector is reeling under serious crisis due to misappropriation of funds by some large cooperatives which has damaged the images of the entire sector.
"Nine study, investigation or probe committees were formed to study the problems of the cooperatives. But we are unable to find their reports easily. For example, only the English version of the report from one of such committee is found, Nepali version is missing," Surya Thapa, Chairperson of the committee, said in an interaction with journalists on Tuesday.
Lawmakers and stakeholders said that the negligence to the reforms of the sector could also be measured by the carelessness in maintaining the proper records of the documents and implementing the recommendations made by the earlier probe committees.
Recommendations from none of the committees have been implemented, rather the authorities and the government continued to shy away from making them public and implementing their recommendations.
The seven-member committee formed on May 28 this year had conducted 31 meetings and interactions with the stakeholders and experts in an effort to find the solution to the existing crisis. "Of more than 34,000 cooperatives scattered across the country, less than 100 are problematic. So, we must show greater sensitivity while handling the issue of cooperatives as it can impact millions of people," said Thapa. He said that some cooperatives put their efforts to return the deposits of the customers even though they were facing problems.
According to him, the committee will further interrogate 26 persons of the 29 cooperatives that it has the responsibility to look into. About 26 cooperatives are problematic while the committee will also study the status of some controversial ones. The committee members said that there was misuse of public money in large amount and it was a form of corruption. "The committee will make the financial analysis of the cooperatives in crisis. We found that the high profile people used the cooperatives for money laundering. And now, the operators are blackmailing them for the same," said Thapa.
To understand the magnitude of the money laundering practice by the cooperatives, the probe committee has discussed the issue with and sought help from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Department of Cooperatives (DoC) and Nepal Police.
According to the committee, inability to create the second tier regulator for the cooperatives, exit of the NRB from the sector, rapid transfer of the registrar of the DoC, and absence of institutions like Credit Information Bureau and Credit Recovery Tribunal contributed to the exacerbation of the problems.
Constitution has considered cooperative as one of the three pillars of the national economy but treatment to the sector is not per se.
Meanwhile, the NRB, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the DoC ping-ponged the responsibilities of the cooperatives sector to each other which gave a leeway to the operataors of the institutions who had ill intentions over the public funds, the committee said.
Member of the committee, Lekh Nath Dahal, said that the cooperative successfully collected the money but since there was no modality to mobilise the savings, they tested by investing in real estate and other areas.
Speaking on the occasion, journalists urged the committee for greater transparency about its investigations so that the victims could also suggest the missing issues or areas.
The committee has a mandate to investigate cooperatives that are facing crisis, their financial systems, regulations and supervision, and transparency.
It has the responsibility to recommend the solutions for the current crises, measures for the return of savings at the problematic cooperatives to the depositors, and track the status of funds missing from the problematic cooperative organisations.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 7 August 2024.
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