Key facts
- Two former Nepali ministers and 14 others were jailed for forging documents in a refugee scam.
- Former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi received a four-year sentence.
- Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand was sentenced to two years.
- The scam aimed to resettle Nepali nationals in the U.S. as Bhutanese refugees.
- The scam was uncovered in 2023, after the ministers had left their government posts.
A court in Kathmandu, Nepal, has sentenced two former government ministers and 14 other individuals to jail for their involvement in a scam that forged documents to facilitate the resettlement of Nepali nationals in the United States as Bhutanese refugees. The rulings were delivered late on Tuesday.
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi received a four-year sentence for offences against the state, fraud, and involvement in organised crime. Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand was sentenced to two years in jail as an accomplice. Both ministers have previously denied any involvement in the scam. Lawyers for Rayamajhi and Khand have stated their intention to appeal the verdicts.
Among the other sentenced individuals were a former top bureaucrat in the home ministry and a former Bhutanese refugee leader, who received sentences of up to four years. The scam was uncovered in 2023, after both ministers had already left their government positions. It remains unclear if any Nepali nationals were successfully resettled in the U.S. under false pretenses.
Nepal has hosted approximately 120,000 Bhutanese nationals of Nepali origin since the early 1990s. Many have been resettled in Western countries, including the U.S., under third-country resettlement programs, as repatriation efforts failed. The country has also seen anti-corruption protests, including one last September that resulted in the collapse of the government. A new government, led by 36-year-old former rapper Balendra Shah, was elected in March with a pledge to combat corruption.