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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 U.S. as Bhutanese refugees, a court document and lawyers said on Wednesday.
The district court in Kathmandu jailed former Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi to 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 Tuesday.
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.