Scores hold protest in Nepal, calls for action against refugee scammers and corrupt

In Kathmandu on Saturday, a large number of people held demonstrations calling for action against corrupt officials and scammers targeting refugees. The protest comes in response to the arrest of former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand on suspicion of high-level complicity in the US immigration of Nepalese nationals posing as Bhutanese refugees. In order to prevent outside interference with the police's ongoing investigation, the demonstrators waved placards and shouted slogans, demanding accountability.

Biplav Adhikari, one of the demonstrators, while talking to the media, said, "The web of corruption is quite wide and goes deep. The ongoing investigation should not be diverted or stopped midway just because another issue of corruption has come to light. Though I am from the youth wing of the Nepali Congress, I am here to raise my voice against those who abuse power. They should be identified and booked, no matter what post they hold. The corrupt don't belong to any party. They should be held accountable for their actions."

Numerous people from all walks of life gathered in Narayanchaur, an open field, brandishing placards and sloganeering, demanding action for those involved in scams. Participants in the demonstration included politicians, members of civil society, professionals, and individuals from different age groups and sectors.

In appreciation for the Nepal Police's role in the arrest of the suspects in the Bhutanese refugee fraud, demonstrators were spotted presenting flowers to security forces.

Police have detained 12 people thus far, including the former home secretary and the former home minister.

Recent protests on the streets have increased pressure on the government to launch an independent investigation into anyone suspected of being engaged in the fake refugee fraud from Bhutan and other corruption charges.

Earlier, on May 10, Nepal Police detained former home minister and Nepali Congress politician Bal Krishna Khand in connection with the refugee scheme. Khand has been in jail since the court granted the police a three-day extension of their custody.

The case gained momentum with the publication of an investigative piece with funding from the Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal. Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the incumbent home minister, ordered police organisations to conduct an investigation in response to rising pressure to take action.

How did the refugee scam unfold?

The scam unfolded after the police detained Tek Narayan Pandey, the current secretary in the vice president's office and a former home secretary. Data and papers recovered from Pandey's possession broke the scam network, which is currently being investigated.

The information and records showed how people were conned out of millions of rupees in exchange for transporting them to the US as refugees from Bhutan. The case further came into the limelight when an arrest warrant was issued against the secretary of the chief opposition party, CPN-UML, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, his (Top Bahadur) son Sandeep, and Prateek Thapa, the son of former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa.

Only Sandeep is being held by authorities after it was claimed that he accepted payments totaling 10 million Nepali rupees in exchange for helping the racketeers create the documents. Prateek Thapa and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi are on the run.

Former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's advisor, Indra Jit Rai, has also been detained by the Nepal Police. Rai is additionally charged with assisting the racketeers in obtaining the fictitious paperwork from the Home Ministry, which served as certification for the shipment of Nepalese nationals to the US as Bhutanese refugees.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police began an investigation into a gang of criminals implicated in a fraud case on June 14, 2022. The gang allegedly conned individuals by promising to pay money for years.

The investigative report by CIJ disclosed the infiltration by government official Rai in the report, where he managed to manipulate the number of "left out" refugees for resettlement.