Nepal: Absconding MP indicted in fake Bhutanese refugee scam arrested

Nepal Police on Sunday late evening arrested absconding lawmaker Top Bahadur Rayamajhi from a location on the outskirts of Kathmandu in connection with a fake Bhutanese refugee scam .

Rayamajhi, the member of parliament from CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist), had gone incognito for the past week after the issuance of an arrest warrant.

"He has been detained from Budhanilkantha area in the outskirts of Kathmandu," a security official confirmed to ANI. With this, the Police have made 13 arrests since the launch of the investigation into the issue which involves high-profile figures.

Earlier in the day, the Office of the District Attorney- Kathmandu directed the Nepal Police to conclude the investigation over the Bhutanese Refugee scam this week.

Extending the custody of 12 individuals including the former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand on Sunday, the Office of the District Attorney- Kathmandu also directed the Police to complete the investigation within 4 days and register a formal case.

Sunday's directive comes along with the Kathmandu District Court extending the custody of those withheld in the case. "The custody has been extended by four days," Dipak Dahal, Information Officer at Kathmandu District Court confirmed ANI.

All the 12 individuals including Bal Krishna Khand, the former Home Minister were brought to the Attorney's office before being presented before the Kathmandu District Court for extension of custody.

Though other 11 individuals walked hand-cuffed to the attorney's office, former Home Minister Khand walked cuffed free escorted by the Police in the same dress which he was wearing on the day of his arrest, 10th May.

The Police have found evidence which establishes the connection between Khand and the scammers proving his involvement. While walking out of the Office of attorney on Sunday, Khand denying the case replied, "I have no involvement on it," when asked about the case.

As the Police continue the investigation, concerns have been raised against possible interference. Independent as well as political groups have been staging in support of the investigation demanding fair conduct.

Earlier on Sunday morning, the Nepal Student Union, the student wing of the ruling Nepali Congress staged a demonstration in Kathmandu demanding action against those involved in the fake refugee scandal. Some of the protesters portrayed themselves as handcuffed inmates during the demonstration.

"We, the members of the Nepal Student Union staged this demonstration against corruption. If the case is dismissed or settled down in a low tone letting the culprits go then we will stage some large-scale demonstrations," Monika Bhatta, one of the demonstrators who came onto the street in jail-bird disguise told ANI.

Members of the student wing of Nepali Congress protested in front of Ghantaghar, carrying placards with slogans, 'No more silence, no more corruption', 'Say no to corruption' and 'Stop corruption, start integrity' among others.
"Every culprit should be penalized equally, no one should be given benefit of doubt. We first are the citizen of a nation then after comes the party that's why whosoever is indulged in corruption should be booked," Prashant Bagle, one of the demonstrators from the Nepali Congress student union wing told ANI.

On Sunday, the Kathmandu District Court also issued an arrest warrant against Nepali Congress leader and former lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa and Pratik Thapa, son of CPN-UML vice-chair Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is also a former home minister.

Earlier on May 10, Nepal Police arrested Bal Krishna Khand, former Home Minister and leader of Nepali Congress over the issue of fake refugee scam. He is in jail since then with the court handing over the Police an extension period of 3 days to keep him in custody.

The case which came to the limelight last month started after the publication of an investigative piece through the grant of the Center for Investigative Journalism- Nepal. With mounting pressure, the incumbent Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha directed Police bodies to carry out the investigation.

The scam slowly came to understanding after Police apprehended Tek Narayan Pandey, the incumbent Secretary at Vice President's Office and former Home Secretary. Data and documents retrieved from the possession of Pandey busted the scam web which is still under investigation.

The data and documents exposed how Nepalis were swindled out of millions of rupees in return for sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. The case further came into the limelight when an arrest warrant was issued against chief opposition CPN-UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, his (Top Bahadur) son Sandeep and Prateek Thapa, the son of former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa.
Out of them, only Sandeep is in judicial custody for taking 10 million Nepali Rupees in bribe for assisting the racketeers to prepare the documents. Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Prateek Thapa are on run.

The Nepal Police also have arrested Indra Jit Rai, adviser to the former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. Rai is also indicted in the case for helping the racketeers to obtain the fake document from the Home Ministry which worked as certification for them to send Nepali nationals as Bhutanese refugees to the USA.
On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police launched an investigation into a criminal group involved in a case of fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people for years by promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees.

The government action was in response to a case filed by the victims at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority against the group a few months earlier. The case was brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division only in June 2022 after which the investigation was launched. The group has allegedly swindled over 875 people from different places in Nepal of millions of rupees.

The Police investigation found suspects collecting between one to five million Nepali rupees per head promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees. After 1990, Nepal saw a huge influx of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese nationals who were expelled from their country by the Bhutanese government in a massive ethnic cleansing drive.

The refugees were kept in several refugee camps in Morang and Jhapa districts. After a series of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan failed, the international community led by the UN refugee agency started resettling the refugees in third countries, mostly in the US and Europe.

Between 2007 and 2016, the UNHCR helped resettle more than 113,500 Bhutanese refugees in eight countries in one of the largest resettlement programs globally.

Nepal's Home Ministry had formed a task force to find out the ways for remaining Bhutanese refugees who were denied resettlement. The investigative report by CIJ disclosed the infiltration by a government official- Rai in the report where he managed to manipulate the number of "left out" refugees for resettlement.

(ANI)