By Sunil KC

It looks like Ravi Lamichhane’s case has become a bone stuck in the throat of the KP Oli-led coalition government. It has now surged beyond a simple case of fraud of cooperative money that could lead to an avalanche of accusations and charges that might engulf many political parties and their leaders. And that will be a good thing and will augur well for people who have been clamoring for serious investigations of innumerable cases of corruption over the years involving all political parties, their top leaders, bureaucrats and everybody who has been in and close to positions of power.

There are strong arguments that the case was politically motivated to finish off the political career of a new entrant into politics and the party he leads that caught the eyes of the people who are dejected by rampant corruption, mismanagement, political bargains and economic decline. Their view is even more substantiated after it was found that a check worth 10 million rupees presented as evidence in the court said to be signed by Lamichhane was found to be forged. His lawyers are saying that the evidence further validates that the whole case with Lamichhane as the main target was framed.

As the matter is still under sub judice, it is yet to be seen how the new evidence would affect this and other cases he is charged with like money laundering and organized crime. But Lamichhane will still have to weave through complex legal entanglements. Most recently, yet another case has been filed against Lamichhane and some others in Kathmandu accusing them of fraud in another cooperative. One lawyer Swagat Nepal said that the accusations of organized crime and money laundering were misleading and ill-intentioned and a scheme to cover up the weak case of cooperative fraud.

However, the Oli government is in no mood to let it go. Recently, the government issued an ordinance changing some clauses of the Cooperative Act making it even more difficult for Lamichhane to be released on bail. The change stipulates that anyone accused of cooperative fraud coupled with money laundering and organized crime should be in custody until all the cases are finalized.

Political analysts are pointing out that the government is trying to overwhelm Lamichhane with cases that might take months if not years to be resolved just to wear him down. However, they say it has already crossed the threshold of a normal case of fraud or embezzlement to become an issue of political dominance with stakes so high that it could severely damage the political career of many politicians if they fail.

One of them could be Gagan Thapa, general secretary of Nepali Congress, the party that obstructed the proceedings of the parliament for almost two months demanding a parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in siphoning of several cooperative’s money for personal gains when he was the managing director of Galaxy TV, and Thapa was the most vocal saying he had irrefutable proof of Lamichhane’s fraudulent actions. But that proof turned out to be forged.

The other could be Prime Minister KP Oli. Already, a war of words has escalated between Oli and Maoist leader Prachanda with each other threatening to open each other files of corruption with Oli saying he would open the file of Shera Palace, a winter palace built by late Prithvi Narayan Shah in Nuwakot and Prachanda intimidating Oli with the corruption of Giribandhu tea estate. Their overtures about tackling corruption are nothing but hollow, as they themselves are at the core of the numerous corruption allegations.

Here, it might be pertinent to mention that about four years ago, the Oli government had tried to swap the land of Giribandhu Tea Estate, worth tens of billion rupees in Jhapa in eastern Nepal, with land in another place that cost almost nothing. The Supreme Court at that time had blocked the ploy. Even recently, the Oli government again tried to amend the law to facilitate the grab of the land and the Supreme Court had to intervene again.

Lamichhane’s case in Pokhara is in the final stage, and there will be more court proceedings in other districts, but no matter the outcome its fallout has already been felt in the present political establishment. The leadership of Oli in the UML is being challenged and Prachanda’s three-and-a-half-decade-long grip of the party is also being questioned. In Nepali Congress, its general convention next year is expected to bring in new leadership in the party when Sher Bahadur Deuba’s two-term expires.

The thing is, Oli and the Nepali Congress may, unwittingly, have made Lamichhane into something of a doyen in fighting corruption. People even take his dubious personality of being dragged into one controversy after another as a lesser evil than those in the helm of power for years.

Looking back at history, a 26-year-old street vendor’s self-immolation protesting the treatment of local officials in Tunisia in December 2010 led to the Arab Spring that overthrew several governments in North Africa and the Middle East. Will this case usher in such a Spring in Nepal?