Police arrested Nepali Congress lawmaker Maya Rai on Saturday evening. Senior Superintendent of Police Ramesh Basnet, chief of the Crime Investigation Office, said she was taken into custody from her residence in Kapan, Kathmandu at around 8:30 pm.

“We arrested her from her home in Kapan and are in the process of handing her over to the Kathmandu Police Range,” Basnet stated. “She has been recommended for prosecution over the embezzlement of funds from the Swarnalaxmi Savings and Credit Cooperative Society located in Kalimati, Kathmandu.”

Earlier, the Kathmandu District Court had issued an arrest warrant against Rai on charges of cooperative fraud and organised crime.

Rai, a central member of the Congress party, had served as an assistant secretary on the cooperative’s management committee. She, along with other officials at the cooperative, is accused of misappropriating billions of rupees belonging to 690 depositors.

Rai was elected as a Congress lawmaker in Parliament under the indigenous community quota.