Veridos, the German company which was awarded the contract for passport personalization and printing, has sent a letter to the Government of Nepal requesting security for its employees.
The company also informed the government in writing that it has completed all preparations necessary to begin printing new passports for Nepali citizens from July 15 as per its agreement with the government. Veridos has already printed 550,000 new passport booklets and stored them in the lockers of the Department of Passports.
However, Veridos noted that several tasks that were supposed to be completed by the department under the prior agreement remain pending. In its letter, the company urged the department to complete those tasks on time and included a long list of pending tasks.
According to high-level sources, the letter was addressed to Tirtha Raj Aryal, the director general of the Department of Passports, who is currently in custody as part of an investigation by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Department sources said that Veridos has already sent the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The context behind why Veridos sent this letter and requested security is significant.
The letter was written on June 18, three days after an incident involving the prime minister's aides at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Singha Durbar concerning the passport contract.
On June 15, Prime Minister Balen Shah’s aides allegedly kept the CIAA team including Chief Commissioner Prem Kumar Rai and all other commissioner inside the PMO for nearly eight to nine hours and pressured them to issue arrest warrants for the Department of Passport’s Director General Tirtha Raj Aryal and IT Director Sunil KC.
Aryal and KC, who had been called to the PMO for passport-related discussions, were arrested from the premises that evening.
While these events were unfolding, eight individuals including the German ambassador, engineers from two German companies, and their local representatives were waiting in another room inside the Prime Minister's Office. The Veridos team had also been invited to discuss progress on the new passport system that day.
Having arrived at 11:30 a.m., they were kept waiting until 2 p.m. without meeting anyone. Eventually, the German company’s local representative, Siddhartha Thapa, was called in by the prime minister’s aides.
Subash Sharma, the prime minister’s chief personal secretary, sent a message asking why the German ambassador was there, stating, "We will not meet them; they should return." However, Ambassador Udo Eugen Volz insisted he would not leave without meeting someone from the prime ninister’s team.
Subsequently, the prime minister’s IT advisor Bibek Mishra and aides Santosh Giri and Madhav Khanal entered the room.
Mishra reportedly told the ambassador, "We were surprised to see you. We did not expect your presence."
According to sources who were present in the room at the time, the ambassador then explained that he had been involved in passport-related discussions since the time of the interim government led by Sushila Karki. He said that he had held discussions at the time to ensure Nepal did not face passport-related issues, and that he had come again with the same intent.
Ambassador Volz noted that he had accompanied representatives from Veridos, which is owned by the German government, and another German company since they had won the international tender to supply passports in Nepal. He said that if the Nepal government had any questions or issues regarding the companies’ works, he was ready to hear them and make efforts to resolve them through discussions.
The ambassador also sought to reassure the prime minister's team about the printing of passports.
In response, Mishra said, "We have no issue with the German team. But there are issues with our team at the Department of Passports. There has been corruption in this case, and we are investigating it."
He added, "This project will not be completed on time. We do not trust the Department of Passports to print passports on time. When we visited the department a couple of days ago, the company's machines did not work."
Benjamin Gerlach, Veridos engineer and project manager for Nepal, responded, "The machines did not work when you visited because no technicians were present there. I express regret for that. But it is impossible for the German machines not to work. After hearing this, we arrived in Kathmandu this morning on very short notice. The machines work. If you come to the department tomorrow, we can show you by filling out the details and printing a passport."
When Gerlach requested the prime minister’s team to visit the Department of Passports and see the printing of passports, Mishra replied that they would visit the next day.
On June 16, PM Shah’s advisors Asim Shah, Bibek Mishra, and Madhav Khanal visited the department.
German engineers filled out Asim Shah’s form, took his photo, scanned his retina, and collected all his biometrics. They then immediately produced a sample passport in his name.
The German team thus demonstrated that everything was fully operational and that their system was ready to print passports whenever instructed by the government. Despite witnessing that the system was ready for live printing, the prime minister’s team offered no feedback. They neither thanked the German team, nor said that they were reassured.
The prime minister’s team remained skeptical, even though the German team had already demonstrated live passport printing to the Department of Passports in late April.
The department had been providing updates to Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal regarding the progress being made in the installation of the new passport system and the printing of passports. According to department sources, Khanal had visited the department to inspect the installation of the new passport system before leaving for China.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s team had been bypassing Minister Khanal and conducting their own inspections of the Passport Division. They had even taken some documents with them from there a few weeks ago.
On June 12, Asim Shah, Bibek Mishra, and Madhav Khanal visited the Department of Passports and asked Director General Tirtha Raj Aryal to them them to the floor where passports are printed. After reaching the floor, they asked for live printing of passports. Aryal replied that it was not possible as technicians were not present at the time.
According to a source at the department, the team led by Asim Shah and the department’s employees were then involved in a heated debate.
These events indicate that the prime minister’s team concluded that the German team and machines were not capable of printing passports and that preparations were inadequate, likely leading to the incident at the PMO on June 15.
On that day, the prime minister’s team not only forced CIAA officials to issue arrest warrants for the director general and director of the Department of Passports, but also called the German team and told them that their machines could not print passports.
Veridos’ engineers and local representatives told Setopati that they suspect they themselves might have been arrested if the ambassador had not been present there on June 15.
Since that day, Veridos’ local representative Siddhartha Thapa has not been in contact with the government.
When Setopati tried to contact the German ambassador, he sent a message that he will not speak to the media on the matter at present.
Even though the team including Asim Shah saw a successful live demonstration of passport printing at the Department of Passports on June 16, the CIAA continues to arrest and interrogate the department’s staff.
On June 17, the CIAA published a notice in The Rising Nepal demanding that representatives of the two German companies appear for questioning within three days, either in person or virtually. Through the Nepali Embassy in Germany, it also also sent letters to the companies’ offices requiring them to appear for questioning.
Veridos sent the letter to the Nepal government amid these developments. In the letter, the company has said that it is capable and ready to print passports for Nepali citizens under the new system from July 15, in line with its agreement with the Nepal government.
It has also provided a detailed list of tasks to be completed by the Department of Passports in the meantime, requesting the department to complete all those tasks by the date for live printing.
The most sensitive matter is that it has sought security for its engineers and technicians.
The letter states that the Department of Passports must formally ensure and guarantee security for all its technicians and field staff.
It is not difficult to understand the strategic intent behind this letter.
The German firm is well aware of the activities at the Department of Passports and the lack of trust shown in the department by the prime minister’s team. Its team and local representatives have worked there for months. They have seen that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Passports are satisfied with their work. But they have also seen that the prime minister’s team has doubts regarding their work.
Therefore, after the prime minister’s team including Asim Shah visited the department and found out that it was not possible to operate machines or print passports in the absence of technicians, Veridos immediately sent its senior engineers to Nepal from Germany.
After learning about the incident on Friday evening, the company sent its engineers and Nepal’s project manager Gerlach to Nepal. They arrived in Kathmandu on Monday morning.
The team, including the German ambassador, attended a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office on June 15. The next day, German engineers including Gerlach demonstrated live passport printing to the prime minister’s team at the department, proving that all preparations had been completed.
Veridos then sent a letter to the Nepal government, mentioning everything in detail.
The letter has clearly stated that the remaining preparations are now the Nepal government’s responsibility. It is not difficult to understand that the German company has written this letter to ensure it does not face any blame in the future and it has additional evidence if it opts for international arbitration.
We have repeatedly attempted to contact the Prime Minister’s Office, seeking its position and arguments on the incident that occurred at Singha Durbar on June 15 and all aspects of the passport controversy.
When we attempted to speak to the prime minister’s advisor, Asim Shah, he replied that he would talk about the matter in person. We subsequently sent him an SMS requesting a meeting.
We tried to call the prime minister’s IT advisor, Bibek Mishra, but he did not answer. We also sent him an SMS requesting a meeting, but he has not responded yet.
Once they provide time for an interview, we will present the PMO's views and arguments exactly as stated.
