Arrest warrants issued against NCSIDB officials

Police headquarters has issued arrest warrants against the chief and other senior officials of the financially-troubled Nepal Cottage and Small Industries Development Bank (NCSIDB) on charges of extending loans with the intention of fraud, causing a loss of Rs 280 million to the bank.

A source informed that arrest warrants have been issued against 20 persons, including Sita Ram Prasain, the incumbent chief and other officials of the bank, as well as other persons related to 16 private firms, which have taken loans from the bank.

The police headquarters has circulated arrest warrants to all its regional offices on Monday, said the source.

All the arrest warrants have been issued on the charge of extending loans without collateral or against inferior collateral, which were not even enough to back half of the loan amount, said the source.

"We are currently investigating 16 loan files extended by the bank and 20 persons directly connected to the cases are to be arrested," said the source.

Earlier, Nepal Rastra bank had forwarded a number of cases to financial crime branch of the Nepal Police after the initial investigation found that some of the cases are relevant to the Fraud Section of the Civil Code.