Nepal's only billionaire Binod Chaudhary under CIB radar in land embezzlement case
Mar 20, 2024
Kathmandu [Nepal], March 20 : Nepal's only billionaire, Binod Chaudhary is under the radar of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) and is being probed in a government land-grab case.
The matter came to light after CIB wrote a letter to Nepal's House Speaker informing him of their ongoing investigation.
Chaudhary, a lawmaker from the Nepali Congress in the lower house of the Nepal Federal Parliament, is being investigated for allegedly privatizing land belonging to the Bansbari Shoe Factory, a government entity.
Hobindra Bogati, SP at CIB submitted a letter at the Parliament Secretariat informing House Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire about the investigation against lawmaker Chaudhary in the land embezzlement case.
The CIB has also given Chaudhary a deadline until Thursday morning to provide an explanation of the case to the investigating authority, otherwise he might face arrest.
Chaudhary is accused of illegally acquiring 10 ropani (54758.621 square feet) of land from the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory, a government owned company that is now defunct.
Chaudhary is accused of transferring the land to Champion Footwear under an illegal agreement, and subsequently renamed the company to CG Chandbagh Residency Pvt which is owned by him.
He later gave the land to his brother, Arun Chaudhary, who now operates CG Chandbagh School on the seized property. An investigation had found that Nepali billionaire, akin to his brother Arun Chaudhary, holds shares in Champion Footwear Company, a venture implicated in acquiring government land from the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory.
Documents also revealed that Arun, the younger brother of Nepal's sole billionaire and Nepali Congress lawmaker, possesses 200 shares in Champion Footwear Limited.
Despite Arun's arrest in connection with this case, Binod was not apprehended. The documents indicate that the 200 shares, valued at 2 lakhs, are part of an agreement specifying that the company should hold 2,500 shares of Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory. It is also noted in the document that Binod's father, Lunkarandas Chaudhary, owns more than 2100 shares in the Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory.
At the time, the total shares amounted to 5000, including Lunkaran, Binod, and Arun. Despite Binod Chaudhary being the mastermind behind the land acquisition, the CIB arrested only Arun Chaudhary, Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa, the then executive head of Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory, and Sanjay Thakur, a former employee of the Chaudhary Group.
