Kathmandu, Jul 15 (PTI) Nepal’s former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi has been sentenced to four years in prison by a local court for his role in a fraudulent scheme to pass off Bhutanese refugees as Nepali citizens to send them to the US.
The Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday also sentenced former home minister Bal Krishna Khand to two years in prison in what is known as the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, The Kathmandu Post said.
A single bench of Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka at the Kathmandu District Court, while determining the sentences for 16 individuals convicted in the case, fined Rayamajhi Nepalese Rupee (NRs) 40,000 and Khand NRs 20,000.
Rayamajhi, a leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and part of the first K P Sharma Oli-led cabinet since 2015, was convicted of fraud, organised crime and offences against the state, while Khand was convicted as an accomplice in those offences, the newspaper quoted the court’s information officer, Shiva Khatiwada, as saying.
In its brief order, the court described the fake refugee racket as an offence against the state, saying it had directly undermined the dignity of Nepali citizens and tarnished Nepal’s international image.
The case was initially filed on May 24, 2023, against 30 individuals under charges of forgery, fraud, organised crime and offences against the state. Two supplementary charge sheets were filed in May and July 2024.
Three years after the case was filed, the court concluded proceedings on the main case and two supplementary charge sheets, convicting 16 defendants, acquitting seven, and ordering that proceedings against the eight fugitives be kept in abeyance until they are arrested, the newspaper said.
Although the defendants received separate sentences under charges of forgery, fraud, organised crime, offences against the state and integrated offences based on their individual roles, the verdict will be implemented according to the sentence and fine imposed for the integrated offence, it said, quoting Achyut Mani Neupane, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General.
Judge Khadka heard the main case together with the two supplementary charge sheets and, on July 7, convicted 16 defendants, including Khand and Rayamajhi.
On Tuesday, the court determined their sentences, including prison terms and fines.
In its brief order, the court said the offence of forgery had been established because genuine official reports had been altered and incorporated into forged reports, and fake identity cards identifying Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees had been issued.
The court also upheld the charge of integrated offences, ruling that the defendants had, through a single criminal episode, committed fraud, forgery of official documents, organised crime and offences against the state, thereby satisfying the legal requirements for conviction under the integrated offences provision, the newspaper added. PTI NPK ZH NPK NPK
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