Keshav Dulal, one of the masterminds of the fake Bhutanese refugees scam, has said that he had given Rs 10 million to then prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s chief personal secretary Rajesh Bajracharya.
In his statement recorded with the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, a copy of which Setopati has acquired, Dulal has revealed that Bajracharya had called him to Baluwatar through CPN-UML lawmaker and then energy minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi’s chief personal secretary Lila GC and received Rs 10 million in October 2019.
GC told Dulal that money had reached the prime minister but he and the energy minister also needed money for getting the social committee to take a decision on the Bhutanese refugees issue, Dulal has said in his statement. According to Dulal, GC called him to the energy minister’s quarters at Pulchowk and received Rs 10 million on the night before the social committee took a decision on the issue.
Dulal has said that then prime minister Oli’s former advisor Dr Ajay Kranti Shakya, husband of then Nepali ambassador to Israel Anjan Shakya, and then mayor of Kathmandu Bidya Sundar Shakya had also received money.
According to the statement, Dr Shakya and the mayor’s personal secretary Rajeshwar Sthapit set up a meeting between then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and energy minister Rayamajhi at Thapa’s quarters at Pulchowk saying the amount was not enough to give to the higher-ups for getting the social committee to take a decision on the Bhutanese refugees issue. Dr Shakya and Sthapit then took Rs 10 million each assuring that the work would be done, according to Dulal.
Dulal has said in his statement that then home minister Thapa’s family and home secretary Prem Kumar Rai had also received money.
Rai is the current chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). The Constitutional Council headed by Oli had appointed him as the CIAA chief.
According to Dulal, Thapa had called him to his quarters at Pulchowk through his son Prateek Thapa before the National Assembly elections and received Rs 30 million promising to send him and his relatives to America as Bhutanese refugees. Prateek had called him to a hotel located to the north of the courtyard of Nilgiri Thakali in Naxal and received Rs 10 million in June 2019, Dulal has said in the statement.
According to Dulal, then home secretary Rai had called him to his office through Indrajit Rai and received Rs 30 million in July 2019.
Another accused Sanu Bhandari has also said that then home secretary Rai had received money.
He has revealed that Tek Narayan Pandey, who succeeded Rai as home secretary, had also received money on multiple occasions amounting to Rs 12.45 million. According to him, Pandey had called him to a secret chamber in his office and received money.
Though Pandey has been arrested in connection with the scam, it appears that police have not investigated then prime minister Oli’s personal secretary Bajracharya, then home minister Thapa and his wife Nainkala and then home secretary Rai.
Police say they have not found evidence against them, but the District Government Attorney’s Office could instruct the police to carry out further investigation against them too.
