Kathmandu, Jan. 26 -- Financial irregularities in the cooperatives sector are an old issue. What's new is a modus operandi being used to deceive cooperative depositors in the name of financial settlement.

Of late, fraudulent cooperatives have started convincing depositors to buy land from real estate brokers at exorbitant rates and earning huge amounts of money from the deal.

Desperate to get their deposits back, the depositors are often ready to do as the cooperative operators suggest. But through such deals, some cooperatives have added financial burden on the depositors.

Ramchandra Phuyal, a 48-year-old resident of Kavreshthali in Tarakeshwar Municipality-2, Kathmandu, is one such victim. His journey into the world of cooperatives b...