Hard-earned savings of 5,381 depositors stuck in ‘troubled’ cooperatives

Depositors have been unable to withdraw Rs 1.57bn parked in various savings and cooperatives declared as ‘troubled’ by the government. The hard-earned savings of 5,381 people are stuck in these cooperatives.

A report prepared by the Troubled Cooperatives Management Committee states that people have made claims for their savings amounting to a combined Rs 1.57bn. Speaking at the Agriculture and Cooperatives Committee of the House of Representatives, Kashi Raj Dahal, chairman of the Troubled Cooperatives Management Committee, said the government should return their savings to the depositors by selling off assets of the cooperatives. The government formed the committee for the management of troubled cooperatives on April 19 last year after people victimized by the cooperatives launched a protest for 63 days. The committee submitted its report to the government on October 9.

According to the report, over 80 percent of 31,373 cooperatives are under the supervision of local units, 19.5 percent under the provincial government, and 145 under the federal government. Out of the 15 troubled cooperatives, 4,249 depositors have parked Rs 3.19bn in Oriental Saving and Credit Cooperatives alone. Of them, only 519 depositors with savings less than Rs 100,000 have got their money back.

According to the report, the committee has managed to bring down the total liability of the suspended chairperson of the cooperatives, Sudhir Basnet, by Rs 880m. Efforts were underway to search and auction off fixed and liquid assets of board directors and borrowers of the company to pay off the depositors, Dahal added.

Investigations into three other troubled cooperatives—Consumer, Kohinoor, and Vegas—were going on together with Oriental, according to the committee. The report states that Standard Saving and Credit Cooperatives has returned only Rs 29.7m of 81 depositors out of Rs 110m deposits of 175 individuals. Dahal said preparations were underway to auction the assets of promoters and borrowers of the cooperative.

Similarly, the committee has managed to return Rs 360m out of Rs 480m claimed by 352 depositors of Pacific Saving and Credit Cooperatives. The committee is in the process of auctioning off assets of the promoters to return the savings of the remaining depositors. The committee has become successful in returning Rs 55.56m out of Rs 108.75m parked by depositors in Societal Saving and Credit Cooperatives. The committee has provided 13 katthas of land under the ownership of the cooperative to some depositors to settle their transactions. The cooperative still owes Rs 44m to the depositors.

According to Dahal, the committee has managed to return only Rs 3.3m out of Rs 130.2m of 138 individuals parked in Prabhu Saving and Credit Cooperatives. Similarly, Rs 60m out of Rs 117.4m claimed by 214 depositors of Lunibha Savings and Credit Cooperatives have been returned so far. The committee told the House panel that all the assets of Pashupati Saving and Credit Cooperatives have been seized and are being auctioned off to return the money of depositors. A total of 984 depositors have filed applications for the return of their deposits worth Rs 987.5m, according to the committee.

According to Dahal, Shiva Shikhar Saving and Credit Cooperatives have not been able to return deposits worth Rs 6.27bn of 16,365 depositors. The committee has seized documents from 36 branch offices of the cooperatives and sealed them. Likewise, all the branch offices of Tulsi Multipurpose Cooperative have been sealed. Depositors have filed applications for the return of their savings worth Rs 1.57bn parked in the cooperative.

Out of 15 cooperatives under the supervision of the federal government, depositors of three have managed to get all their money back. Depositors of Chartered, Standard Multipurpose, and Kuber have been paid Rs 8.4m, Rs 7.5m, and Rs 5.7m, respectively, according to Dahal.

“There are many problems in regulating cooperatives which have not received the attention of the state,” Dahal said. “There is a lack of resources and manpower. Most of the assets of promoters of cooperatives are already frozen as they have mortgaged them to secure bank loans.” According to Dahal, since the court has decided in favor of the cooperative promoters in many cases, it isn't clear how long depositors will have to wait to get their savings back.