Courts & probes
Investigations, arrests and court cases involving business.
Sudurpashchim tables Rs 37.7bn budget as Supreme Court refuses interim order
Days after one justice ordered the revision halted, a joint bench declined to block it. Nepal's far-western province now has a plan before its assembly, about 70% funded by Kathmandu, and a legal question still open.
Nepal Bangladesh Bank: the run, the NRB takeover and the Nabil merger
A 1994 joint venture with two Bangladeshi lenders suffered a run in November 2006, was taken over by Nepal Rastra Bank, recovered under its management and was absorbed by Nabil Bank in 2022.
Five years after the flood, Kathmandu's Melamchi water still runs on a temporary intake
Another monsoon flood cut Melamchi's supply to the capital in July. A permanent headworks is now targeted for 2029, while 28 court cases over the old contract remain open.
Ajeya Sumargi's offshore funds return to Nepal's Supreme Court, eight years on
Investigators reopened an inquiry into money routed to his telecoms and cement companies, then the Supreme Court granted him interim protection. No charge has been filed in any of the inquiries.
Kailash Sirohiya's Kantipur survived an arrest and a fire. Its business model is the harder test
Nepal's largest media house came through its chairman's 2024 arrest, which ended without charge, and an arson attack. Revenue down about 70% in a decade and its heir's exit over the newsroom's journalism are harder problems.
Ang Tshering Sherpa built the Yeti group from a trekking kitchen. His heirs inherited its hardest tests
Seven years after the Yeti founder died in a helicopter crash, the group he built has lost control of its airline to an insurer, is preparing a share offering and faces a court case over state land in Kathmandu.
Prabhu Group's Devi Prakash Bhattachan: from remittances to a bank, and a fraud case still before the court
The chairman who built a money-transfer business into a commercial bank and a life insurer faces a fraud case over unpaid remittance agents, which he denies. Nearly a year after it was filed, no verdict has been reported.
Still on the grey list: what FATF scrutiny means for Nepal's banks and remitters
Assessors say Nepal's bank supervision passes muster; cooperatives, casinos, property and the failure to confiscate criminal assets do not. Here is what the grey list costs, and what would end it.
How Nepal's savings cooperatives became shadow banks, and who is being paid back
Cooperatives took deposits like banks but were overseen like clubs; the 23 the federal government has declared troubled owe Rs 46bn to some 76,000 savers, and refunds that began in May cover a small fraction.
Nepal's business arrests: prosecute the owner, not the company
Nepal's business leaders want anticipatory bail. They should not get it. What they need, and what the economy needs, is enforcement that keeps sound companies running.
Burnt banknotes and arrest warrants: the money-laundering inquiries after September 9
Cash fragments in burned homes started a probe into three former prime ministers. The cases are moving slowly.
Nearly three years on, Nepal has yet to recognise the sale of Ncell
Axiata sold its 80% stake for a fixed $50m in 2023. Nepal's telecoms regulator has still not ruled on the sale, and the inquiry report on it is under a Supreme Court order.
Giri Bandhu Tea Estate: the Jhapa land swap Nepal's Supreme Court annulled, and what came after
A 1964 exemption let a Jhapa tea estate keep land far above Nepal's legal ceiling. The Supreme Court annulled a 2021 cabinet decision letting it swap that land, but its order to reclaim surplus land had not been carried out by May 2026.
Nepal's oldest industrial house and the court cases facing its chairman, Shekhar Golchha
The Golchha family's roots go back to Nepal's first factory. Its chairman, a former FNCCI president, is now a defendant in insurance and money-laundering cases linked to Himalayan Reinsurance. He denies wrongdoing and is on bail.
GB Rai, Gorkha Media and the cooperative savings still caught up in court
A parliamentary committee said cooperative savings reached GB Rai's television company. He remains abroad, the heaviest charges were dropped in May 2026, and the cooperative fraud charges have not been tested in court.
Upendra Mahato's road from Siraha to Moscow and back
He turned $600 into a business spanning Russian electronics, Belarusian machinery and Nepal's first private mobile network, then founded the diaspora association whose split and reunion he has watched from its edge.
Balen Shah courts business leaders as investigators detain some of them
The prime minister promises not to arrest entrepreneurs without cause. His finance minister is holding meetings of his own. Investors are watching both.