New Delhi: A Nepal court has convicted 16 people, including former Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, in the high-profile fake Bhutanese refugee scam and sentenced them to prison. The case centres on allegations that Nepali citizens were falsely identified as Bhutanese refugees through forged documents in an attempt to secure resettlement under a United States-led third-country refugee programme.
The Kathmandu District Court delivered its verdict late Tuesday. Rayamajhi was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of offences including fraud, crimes against the state and involvement in organised crime. Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand received a two-year prison sentence after being convicted as an accomplice. Rayamajhi is currently in judicial custody, while Khand remains out on bail.
Both former ministers have denied the allegations. Rayamajhi’s lawyer, Dharma Raj Regmi, said his client had no role in refugee policy decisions and would challenge the judgment before a higher court. Khand’s lawyer, Pankaj Karna, also confirmed that an appeal would be filed against the verdict.
The court also convicted 14 other accused, including a former senior official of Nepal’s Home Ministry and a former leader representing Bhutanese refugees. Depending on their individual roles in the alleged conspiracy, they were sentenced to prison terms of up to four years.
The investigation began in 2023 after authorities uncovered allegations that forged documents were being used to falsely identify Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees. Investigators alleged that the scheme was intended to facilitate their inclusion in the US-led third-country resettlement programme. However, authorities have not confirmed whether any individuals actually secured resettlement in the United States or other countries through the alleged fraud.
The case is linked to the decades-old Bhutanese refugee crisis. In the early 1990s, around 120,000 people of Nepali origin left Bhutan for Nepal following disputes over citizenship, identity and political rights. After years of unsuccessful repatriation negotiations between Nepal and Bhutan, the international community launched a third-country resettlement programme.
Under the initiative, nearly 113,000 Bhutanese refugees were resettled in countries including the United States, Canada and Australia. The United States accepted about 100,000 refugees, while several thousand continue to live in refugee camps in eastern Nepal.
The verdict comes at a time when corruption has once again become a major public and political issue in Nepal. The previous government was ousted following youth-led protests last year, which intensified demands for greater accountability in high-profile corruption cases. The ruling is being viewed as a significant development in Nepal’s efforts to address alleged corruption involving senior political figures.
Experts say that fraud involving forged documents in humanitarian resettlement programmes not only undermines the credibility of international refugee protection mechanisms but also jeopardises the rights of genuine refugees while posing broader security and governance challenges for participating countries.
