Companies Act, 2063
Officer liability for fraudulent trading, false statements and audit fraud; shareholder and board disputes that tip into criminal complaints.
Officer terms + company fines
Overview
Employee embezzlement, vendor fraud, shareholder forgery, cheque-bounce chains between trading parties — criminal exposure is a business risk like any other, and it needs the same systematic handling. A dawn raid or an FIR against a director can freeze operations faster than any market shock.
We act as outside criminal counsel to Nepali companies: dawn-response protocols, executive bail readiness, internal investigations, FIR strategy against fraudsters, and OCR, tax and labour interfaces where criminal and regulatory tracks collide.
Legal framework
The Nepalese laws that govern this area — what each one does in your matter.
Penal Code fraud & breach of trust
Cheating, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation between commercial counterparties — up to 7–10 years by grade.
Up to 10 yrs (state fraud)
Banking Offence Act, 2064
Corporate cheque chains and loan documentation fraud, with organisational and CEO liability.
1–5 yrs graded + recovery
Labour Act, 2074 & tax statutes
Employee-misconduct dismissals that must survive criminal parallel proceedings; tax-evasion referrals with criminal overlays.
ETA 2063 corporate provisions
Corporate liability for computer offences plus officer exposure — critical for companies holding customer data.
Entity fine + officer terms
How we handle it
Dawn-response setup
Who calls counsel, who speaks to police, what gets imaged — a one-page protocol kept with security and HR.
Internal investigation
Counsel-led, privilege-aware fact-finding with sequenced employee interviews.
Executive protection
Anticipatory bail readiness and statement strategy for directors and managers.
Offensive filing
FIRs and recovery suits against fraudsters, ex-employees and defaulting counterparties.
Governance repair
Authority matrices, cheque controls and whistleblower channels so recurrence is a systems failure, not a crime scene.
Punishments at stake
Commercial fraud exposes companies and officers to 5–10 year terms plus fines, compensation and confiscation — while well-run investigations and prompt restitution routinely convert prosecutions into compromises.
Common questions
An employee siphoned funds. Police or internal action first?
Both tracks in sequence: secure evidence and suspend first, then file the FIR with a forensic-ready complaint while running domestic disciplinary proceedings that don't prejudice the criminal case.
Can directors be arrested for company defaults?
For genuine commercial defaults, criminal arrest is often challenged as abuse of process — but fraud-colored defaults do attract personal liability. The distinction must be established on paper early.
A supplier's cheques keep bouncing. What works?
The 45-day certification cycle per cheque, strict limitation diaries, and parallel civil recovery — bulk trading disputes settle best with a lived-in criminal file behind the negotiation.
General legal information for public awareness — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an advocate →