February 5: Bhuwan Bahadur Majhi, 43, who had been on a fugitive list for half a year following the conviction of banking offense by the court, was arrested three days ago.    
The Patan High Court had found him guilty in the case of banking fraud with a lawsuit amount of Rs 12 million. The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office had detained him from Shantinagar, Kathmandu Metropolis-31.    
Bhim Bahadur Tamang, 47, another guilty in a banking offense case, was recently arrested by the police and presented before the court. The claim amount in Tamang’s case is Rs 960,000.    
Majhi and Tamang are just two representative cases of people who were on the run after being declared guilty on the banking fraud cases and finally caught by the police. The District Police Range, Kathmandu has a long list of fugitives in banking fraud cases and those accused of the charges.    
According to Superintendent of Police Dinesh Raj Mainali who was lately transferred from the range, total 1,741 complaints of banking offences were registered in the police range during the fiscal year 2020-21 and the number jumped to 2,715 the following year. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the figure has already reached 2,999.    
The assessment of SP Mainali is that the risk of falling prey to banking fraudsters is on the rise with people’s increasing access to banking services. He echoed the need of making people well-informed about the Banking Offence and Punishment Act, 2064 BS (2008) with its effective enforcement.    
The users of online banking are on the rise. The use of multiple digital payment facilities, such as connectIPS, mobile banking and other means of digital payment has increased of late. The COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role to intensify the use of digital spheres, including digital banking in Nepal too.    
The official data about the cases of banking offence suggest that though the use of digital banking system has saved our time and has been convenient to us, the risk of users falling prey to possible fraudsters has gone up. The cases of stealing money from other’s account by hacking the password have surged. In lack of sufficient knowledge of proper use of the online banking system, the risk of transferring money to unknown/unintended account also prevails.    
In accordance with the Act, if the lawsuit amount is up to Rs 1 million, the offender shall face imprisonment of up to one year. If the lawsuit amount is above Rs 1 million and up to Rs 5 million, the law has provision for imprisonment of one to two years. Similarly, if the lawsuit amount is above Rs 5 million and up to Rs 10 million, there is a provision of imprisonment of two to three years for the banking offense.    
As per the law, if the lawsuit amount is above Rs 10 million it mandates imprisonment from three to five years.    
The Act has the provision of punishment to the persons creating hindrance in regard with dealing the case of banking offence. The adjudicating officer may punish him/her with an imprisonment of up to six months or a fine up to Rs 500,000 or both based on the report of the officer involved in investigation and inquiry.    
The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office’s Superintendent of Police Krishna Prasad Koirala said the cases of check bounce are also on the rise. -- RSS