The Bhutanese Leading the way.
According to reports by l The Kathmandu Post, Nepal News and NEPSEtrading the Kathmandu District Court on 14 July convicted former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former home minister Bal Krishna Khand and 14 others in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, finding them guilty of conspiring to send Nepali citizens to the United States by passing them off as Bhutanese refugees.
Three years after the case was filed, a single bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka convicted the defendants of forgery, fraud, organised crime and offences against the state, depending on the nature of the charges and each defendant’s role in the scheme.
Along with Rayamajhi and Khand, former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, members of the network Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai and Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, security adviser to then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, have been convicted.
According to the court ruling, former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey received identical sentences of 4 years in prison along with a Rs 40,000 fine.
Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and ‘Bhutanese refugee leader’ Tek Nath Rizal were both handed down sentences of 2 years in prison and a Rs 20,000 fine.
Rizal’s penalty was determined by integrating distinct offenses related to government document forgery, fraud, organized crime, and crimes against the state.
As per the court order Tek Nath Rizal, along with alleged network members Dulal and Sanu Bhandari, was convicted of forgery.
The main masterminds behind the scam, Keshav Prasad Dulal and Sanu Bhandari, were both handed an integrated sentence of 4 years in prison and a Rs 40,000 fine each.
Both masterminds have been held in pre-trial detention since the beginning of the case.
Indrajit Rai, another high-profile individual implicated in the case, also received an integrated sentence of 4 years in prison and a Rs 40,000 fine.
The court found Bechan Jha guilty of the attempt to commit fraud, sentencing him to one year in prison and a fine of Rs 10,000. Jha had been accused of receiving a check of Rs 20 million from Ram Sharan KC. He was also charged with forging government documents, organized crime, and offenses against the state.
Others convicted include Govinda Chaudhary, former Nepali Congress lawmaker Angtawa Sherpa; Shamsher Miya, then chair of the Haj Committee; Narendra KC, personal secretary to then home minister Khand; alleged middleman Hari Bhakta Maharjan; and Niranjan Kumar Kharel.
Nepali Congress Lawmaker Angtawa Sherpa, and gang members, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma and Govinda Chaudhary alias Bikram also got four years.
Of the 31 individuals originally charged in the case, the court acquitted seven, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against them, while keeping the cases against the remaining absconding defendants in abeyance.
The Kathmandu District Court’s brief order states that the cases against the defendants who remain absconding have been kept in abeyance and will proceed in accordance with the law once they are arrested.
The absconding defendants whose cases have been held in abeyance are Ashok Pokharel, Dhiren Rai, Deepa Humagain, Niraj Rai, Rajesh Aryal, Mohan Raj Rai, Binita Sawden Limbu and Sunil Budhathoki.
“It has been established that the offence of forgery was committed, as the fake report altered and added to the contents of the original report, and evidence was also found that counterfeit identity cards identifying individuals as Bhutanese refugees had been issued,” the order says.
“The offence of organised crime has been established because the coordinated scheme involved political figures, administrators, government employees and middlemen, who collectively defrauded victims of large sums of money by falsely promising to send them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. Such acts cannot be regarded as ordinary fraud committed by individuals,” the order states.
Based on the police investigation report, the Kathmandu District Government Attorney’s Office on May 24, 2023 , filed a case against 31 individuals, including Rayamajhi and Khand, charging them with four offences: forgery, fraud, organised crime, and offences against the state.
The most significant interpretive point lies in how the court framed the crime. Rather than treating it as ordinary fraud, the bench characterized it as an offense against the state, reasoning that dressing up Nepali citizens as foreign refugees eroded Nepal’s credibility before the United Nations and third countries and damaged its international image. This framing is what elevated the case from a swindle to a matter of national interest, and it carries implications well beyond the individuals in the dock.
The scam involved top Nepalese politicians and bureaucrats and a criminal gang, where many Nepalese citizens were promised to be sent as ‘Bhutanese refugees’ to settle in USA in exchange for large sums of money.
