Nepal's ex-Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane was held in a cooperative-fraud case; the Attorney General moved to drop organised-crime and money-laundering charges and the Kaski court approved the change in May 2026
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What happened
On 23 May 2025, Nepal's Supreme Court upheld a Tulsipur High Court order sending Rastriya Swatantra Party chairman and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane to judicial custody, dismissing a habeas corpus petition filed by his wife. The Kathmandu Post reported an audit found Rs 109.936 million deposited into Gorkha Media Network accounts, which he co-ran before politics, and Rs 20 million allegedly moved to his personal account from a cooperative; he was suspended as a lawmaker. The High Court's Butwal bench ordered him released on bail on 18 December 2025. On 14 January 2026 Attorney General Sabita Bhandari decided to withdraw the organised-crime and money-laundering charges against him, a decision challenged in a Supreme Court writ petition. On May 22, 2026 the Kaski District Court approved amending the charge sheets to drop those charges (reported by Kantipur); the cooperative-fraud charge remains, and no Supreme Court ruling on the writ petitions was found. The fraud allegations are unproven and proceedings continue.
By the numbers (2)
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Roles
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- The Himalayan Times — Money laundering, organised crime charges against all accused dropped
decided to withdraw the organised crime and money laundering charges against Lamichhane
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- Kathmandu Post
Rs109.936 million deposited into various accounts of Gorkha Media Network
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