Nepal court jails 2 former ministers, 14 others over refugee scam
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The two former ministers were found guilty of forging documents to enable Nepali nationals to be resettled in the US as Bhutanese refugees.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Two former Nepali ministers were jailed for forging documents to resettle Nepali nationals as Bhutanese refugees in the US, with sentences of four and two years respectively.
- Fourteen others, including a former bureaucrat and refugee leader, were also jailed for up to four years in the scam uncovered in 2023.
- The scam involved fake refugee resettlement amid a long-standing Bhutanese refugee crisis; Nepal's new government vows to fight corruption linked to past administrations.
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KATHMANDU - A court in Nepal jailed two former government ministers after they were found guilty of forging documents to enable Nepali nationals to be resettled in the US as Bhutanese refugees, said a court document and lawyers on July 15.
The district court in Kathmandu jailed former deputy prime minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi for four years for offences against the state, fraud and involvement in organised crime.
It also sentenced former home minister Bal Krishna Khand to two years in jail as an accomplice, a court document showed.
The rulings were handed down late on July 14.
Rayamajhi, who is in custody, and Khand, who is out on bail, were not available for comment.
In the past, they have denied any involvement in the scam.
Dharma Raj Regmi, a lawyer for Rayamajhi, said his client was “never involved in policy-making for the refugees” and that he would appeal against the verdict.
Khand’s lawyer Pankaj Karna also said he would appeal.
Fourteen other people, including a former top bureaucrat in the Home Ministry and a former Bhutanese refugee leader, were sentenced to up to four years in jail, the document showed.
It was not immediately clear if any Nepali nationals were sent to the United States as fake Bhutanese refugees.
The scam was uncovered in 2023 when both men had already left government.
About 120,000 Bhutanese nationals of Nepali origin have fled the neighbouring Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan to Nepal since the early 1990s, demanding more political freedom in the majority-Buddhist country of fewer than 800,000 people.
Nearly 113,000 of them have been resettled in several Western countries, including the US, Canada and Australia, under a third-country resettlement programme, after the two South Asian neighbours failed to agree on repatriation.
Washington has taken in about 100,000 refugees from Nepal.
Several thousand are still living in camps in eastern Nepal saying they want to return to Bhutan.
In September 2025, 76 people died in youth-led anti-corruption protests that led to the collapse of Nepal's government.
A new Gen Z-backed government headed by former rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, 36, was elected in March.
Shah has pledged to crack down on alleged corruption under previous administrations. REUTERS
