A former Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister, former rising star in local politics, was released on bail Thursday by the courts, after several months behind bars for suspicion of fraud which he disputes.
“The court set a bail of 6.5 million rupees (around 46,000 euros) for Rabi Lamichhane,” Suraj Adhikari, spokesperson for the Kaski district court (center), told AFP.
Mr. Lamichhane, 50, is suspected of fraud and organized crime in a case of alleged embezzlement of funds from a financial cooperative.
A parliamentary committee accused him of embezzling millions of rupees from several cooperatives while he headed the Gorkha Media Network, before he entered politics, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper.
For the former deputy prime minister and his supporters, these accusations were trumped up.
Mr. Lamichhane was arrested in October in Kathmandu, the capital, then transferred to the central city of Pokhara for detention.
A well-known television host, he made his name in politics as an anti-corruption campaigner through blunt interviews with public officials.
-He came to power in November 2022 with his party, the Independent National Party (INP), amid widespread discontent with Nepal’s elderly political leaders, becoming deputy prime minister and interior minister.
But he was fired in January 2023, after Nepal’s top court barred him from holding office for failing to regain his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his US passport.
“They wanted to undermine his popularity and weaken the new political movement that is the PNI,” said Swarnim Wagle, a deputy from Mr. Lamichhane’s party, castigating “the malevolence” and the spirit of “revenge of the two main parties in the power” who sought to “amplify” the accusations against Mr. Lamichhane.
With his release on bail, “we hope that he has taken another step towards seeing justice finally triumph,” added Mr. Wagle.
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