Kathmandu [Nepal], July 9 – In a landmark verdict in one of Nepal’s biggest political corruption cases, the Kathmandu District Court has convicted two former home ministers and 21 others in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, ruling that they committed offences against the state through an organised scheme that defrauded Nepali citizens with false promises of resettlement in the United States.
Among those convicted are former Home Ministers Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Bal Krishna Khand along with former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal and Keshab Prasad Dulal, a former aide to former Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala. Court officials confirmed that 23 of the 30 people charged in the case were found guilty.
According to the court’s verdict, the accused falsely portrayed Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees eligible for third-country resettlement, collecting millions of rupees from victims in exchange for promises of relocation to the United States.
The court also convicted several key accused including Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Dr Indrajeet Rai, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary and Angtawa Sherpa on charges of organised crime and offences against the state. Former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi were also found guilty as principal offenders in the organised crime charge.
On the charge of document forgery, however only Tek Nath Rizal, Keshab Prasad Dulal and Sanu Bhandari were convicted while the remaining defendants were acquitted on that count.
The court will announce the sentences at a later hearing.
The Kathmandu District Public Prosecutor’s Office had filed a 224-page charge sheet accusing the defendants of fraud, organised crime, document forgery, offences against the state and other related crimes. Prosecutors had also sought the recovery of Rs 288.4 million.
The scam first came to light in April 2023 following an investigative report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal. The revelations prompted the then Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha to order a police investigation.
Investigators later uncovered a network involving government officials and brokers who allegedly prepared fake documents from the Home Ministry to pass off Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees. The forged documents were used to convince victims that they would be resettled in the United States under an international refugee programme.
Police said 106 victims formally lodged complaints, alleging they had been cheated of more than Rs 232.5 million, although investigators believe the network targeted around 875 people collecting between Rs 1 million and Rs 5 million from each victim.
The case also triggered the arrests of several high-profile political figures and senior bureaucrats, making it one of Nepal’s most politically sensitive corruption scandals in recent years.
The fraudulent scheme exploited the legacy of Bhutanese refugee resettlement, under which more than 113,500 Bhutanese refugees were relocated from Nepal to countries including the United States between 2007 and 2016 through a UN-backed programme.
