SATV 10 June, Kathmandu: Just as the anti-graft body filed a corruption case against Nepal Bank’s former chairman for taking bribes, a new complaint has emerged about Rs 20 billion going missing from the same bank.

A shareholder has filed a complaint with the Office of the Auditor General, claiming that Rs 20.4 billion vanished from Nepal Bank Limited. This complaint has now been forwarded to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

The complainant, shareholder Angaraj Bharti, alleged that the amount disappeared under the heading of loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) approved in 2018. He urged authorities to investigate the missing funds and punish those responsible.

“There’s a huge gap in the figures,” Bharti said in the complaint, “Nepal Bank showed inflated loan amounts under fake borrowers to misuse over Rs 20 billion.”

The data shows inconsistencies. In March 2018, the bank listed a loan limit of Rs 33.27 billion under the SME sector. But actual disbursed loans were only Rs 31.48 billion. By mid-April, the loan limit under this heading dropped to Rs 22.45 billion, while actual loans dropped to Rs 21.05 billion.

However, Nepal Rastra Bank’s data shows that Nepal Bank’s total lending only increased by Rs 510 million during this period. This doesn’t match the drop of over Rs 10.43 billion in SME loans, raising questions.

Bharti suspects this massive gap points to collusion between former board members, executives, and business groups to misuse the funds.

He also pointed to a similar case in mid-2018, where nearly Rs 10 billion more went missing. Combining both fiscal years, he claimed a total of Rs 20.4 billion disappeared and requested an urgent investigation.