Kathmandu, May 19 -- The government has started returning money to victims of cooperative fraud. On Monday, the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee refunded Rs1,399,216 to 378 small depositors, marking the first phase of the refund process for savers with deposits of up to Rs10,000.

According to Dilli Raj Acharya, chair of the committee, Rs989,716 was returned to 215 depositors of Kantipur Saving and Credit Cooperative, Rs41,465 to seven depositors of Pashupati Saving and Credit Cooperative Limited, and Rs368,035 to 156 depositors of Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative Limited.

"We have started returning money after verifying the documents of depositors who applied for refunds," said Acharya. "Our aim is to verify and proces...