A lower court in Nepal has convicted the country’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, and 14 others for their involvement in a fake Bhutanese refugee scam. The Kathmandu District Court found them guilty of conspiring to send Nepali citizens to the United States by disguising them as Bhutanese refugees.
The accused deceived Nepali citizens by falsely promising to send them to the US under the pretext of additional Bhutanese refugee quotas, even though the third-country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees had concluded in 2016. The defendants were convicted of forgery, fraud, organized crime, and offenses against the state based on the charges and their roles in the scheme.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi, former Home Minister Khand, and others involved in the scam network were among those convicted. The court has yet to determine the sentences, with a hearing scheduled for July 13 to decide the penalties.
Describing the case as an offense against the state, the court highlighted that the scam undermined the dignity of Nepali citizens and tarnished Nepal’s international reputation. The court acquitted seven of the 30 individuals originally charged, citing lack of evidence, while keeping the cases against the remaining absconding defendants in abeyance.
