An unimaginable event occurred at the Prime Minister's Office this week.
All officials of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) – a constitutional body formed to monitor the government and maintain balance – were “taken under control” by Prime Minister Balen Shah’s aides for hours in their office and forced to make decisions under duress.
Similarly, the diplomatic representative of a friendly nation was subjected to indecent behavior and language by the prime minister's aides at his office.
On Monday morning, the prime minister’s aides spoke to German Ambassador Udo Volz in an undignified manner at the Prime Minister’s Office over the issue involving the awarding of the e-passport contract to German companies.
Immediately thereafter, the CIAA team, including Chief Commissioner Prem Rai, was called to the Prime Minister’s Office and coerced into initiating action, alleging that irregularities had taken place when the German companies won the e-passport contract.
According to high-level sources, CIAA chief Prem Rai, all three CIAA commissioners – Jay Bahadur Chand, Hari Paudel, and Sumitra Shrestha Amatya – the CIAA secretary, and some investigation officers were also called to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Once they arrived, the prime minister’s chief advisor Kumar Ben, advisor Asim Shah, chief personal secretary Subash Sharma, and some individuals overseeing information technology at the Prime Minister’s Office “intimidated” the CIAA team, asking why they had not filed a case in the e-passport episode.
"They insisted that action must be initiated today, right now, from here," the high-level source said. "Our attempts to explain made no difference. They pressured us to immediately arrest people from the Department of Passports."
The source said that when the CIAA team tried to present their position, they were not heard; instead, abusive language was used and they were pressured to take immediate action.
According to the source, the prime minister’s chief political advisor Kumar Ben threatened them, saying, "You will not be allowed to leave here today without moving forward with action and issuing arrest warrants against them."
"After being kept for hours and forced, we were compelled to issue the arrest warrants," a CIAA source said.
While the CIAA team was being “intimidated” in one room, the prime minister’s team had called and kept officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in another room.
The officials present in that room were Foreign Secretary Amrit Rai, Department of Passports Director General Tirtha Raj Aryal, and IT Director Sunil KC.
After deliberations throughout the day, the CIAA team eventually typed and issued arrest warrants against DoP Director General Aryal and IT Director KC in the Prime Minister’s Office in the evening. The two were arrested and taken away around 8 p.m.
Only then were the officials from the CIAA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were present there allowed to go home.
However, Prime Minister Balen Shah himself did not enter the room throughout this entire episode.
What is the e-passport controversy?
On November 28, 2024, the Department of Passports invited global tenders for the supply of 6.4 million new e-passports and management of the related system for five years.
After evaluating the bids, on June 6, 2025, the department issued a letter of intent to award the contract to two German companies for approximately Rs 7.66 billion.
Package 1, covering biometric data and system management, was awarded to Germany's Mühlbauer ID Services GmbH for Rs 1.55 billion.
Package 2, covering passport booklet supply and personalization, was awarded to Germany's Veridos GmbH for Rs 6.11 billion. Veridos is a company in which the German government also has an ownership stake.
The German ambassador had visited the Prime Minister’s Office to defend his country's companies, arguing that a company owned by the German government could not be involved in irregularities.
He had initially asked for time to meet the prime minister, but did not get it. Later, he went to the Prime Minister's Office to meet at least the prime minister's advisors and put forth his points.
The prime minister’s advisors also did not meet him. Sources claim that he was met only by the prime minister’s chief personal secretary Subash Sharma.
When the German companies were awarded the passport supply contract, KP Sharma Oli was prime minister and Arzu Rana Deuba was foreign minister.
There is a fixed procedure for opening and evaluating global tenders issued by the government. Such tender proposals are not opened or decided by a single department or a small group of individuals.
In the passport tender evaluation process, too, more than a dozen individuals besides officials from the Department of Passports were involved. They included IT experts from Nepal Police, and representatives from Nepal Rastra Bank, the Security Printing Press, and the Law Ministry.
Apart from that, the practice of seeking advice and suggestions from the CIAA and the Public Procurement Monitoring Office during the tender evaluation and decision-making process itself is becoming increasingly common to ensure there are no mistakes in such large tender processes and no trouble arises later.
An official said that representatives of the evaluation committee had discussed this tender process at the CIAA not once, but three times.
The official added that such discussions also took place at the Public Procurement Monitoring Office.
An official from the Department of Passports claimed that the contract was awarded to the German companies only after the CIAA gave the green signal following those discussions.
After the German companies won the contract, the French company that had competed for it became dissatisfied.
Before this, the French multinational company IDEMIA had been winning the contract to supply passport booklets and systems in Nepal for about 16 years.
After losing the contract, the French company filed a case in the Public Procurement Review Committee according to the law, claiming that the German companies did not meet the technical qualifications.
After hearing both sides and holding lengthy discussions, the committee upheld the contract awarded to the German companies.
IDEMIA then moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay order to prevent the German companies from getting work. The Supreme Court did not issue a stay order. The case is still sub judice.
After the Supreme Court declined to grant the stay order requested by the French company, the path was clear for the German companies to proceed with the work. Accordingly, the department awarded them the contract.
On what basis did the Prime Minister’s Office intervene now? And why did the CIAA proceed with action?
In this case, there are two main questions today.
First, what facts or errors did the Prime Minister’s Office find in this process that the CIAA or the Public Procurement Monitoring Office had not found before?
Did the Prime Minister's Office proceed based on the suspicion and prejudice that something must have gone wrong in the tender process when KP Sharma Oli was prime minister and Arzu Rana Deuba was foreign minister? Or did it find some infallible evidence due to which it forced the CIAA team to proceed with action and immediately issue arrest warrants against two government officials?
A source said that the Prime Minister's Office did not even once ask the employees of the Department of Passports, which had awarded the contract, what had happened in the passport contract case.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s Office did not even consult with Minister Shishir Khanal, who is leading the line Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on this incident.
According to an official, the Prime Minister’s team, and especially members of his IT team, raised with the CIAA and Foreign Ministry officials on Monday the same questions that the French company had raised during the appeal process.
"The French company had raised these same questions before the Public Procurement Review Committee. The committee dismissed those questions and upheld the contract awarded to the German companies," an official said.
The second important question is: Why was the line separating the CIAA, a constitutional body, and the government crossed? And why did the CIAA team disregard the dignity of its own institution by issuing arrest warrants while sitting inside the Prime Minister's Office?
The CIAA is a constitutional body formed to monitor the government as well. Therefore, it is independent of the government. It is accountable only to Parliament, not to the government.
Only Parliament can question the actions of CIAA officials or, if necessary, remove them through impeachment.
Not even the prime minister himself, let alone his advisors, has the authority to question or give instructions to them.
This is the balance of powers established by the Constitution. The CIAA is not a vigilance center under the Prime Minister's Office, which is accountable to that office.
On Monday, the prime minister’s advisors and aides not only gave directions to all CIAA office-bearers and officials, they kept them like hostages for nearly nine hours and forced them to take steps according to their wishes. They allowed them to go home only after having arrest warrants issued against the officials of the Department of Passports and having them arrested from another room.
Immediately following that incident, the CIAA has advanced the investigation into this episode further. It have arrested more people and taken statements from additional individuals.
The CIAA has published a notice in The Rising Nepal requiring the representatives of the two German companies that won the tender for passport supply to provide statements in person or through virtual means.
This has raised some serious questions about the CIAA and its officials.
Did they fail morally before and are now forced to proceed with action? Or, do they lack the courage to defy the unconstitutional and irresponsible directions of the prime minister’s advisors (to whom they have no accountability)?
Why could they not muster the courage to protect the dignity of their own institution?
The prime minister's advisor Asim Shah was also part of the team that forced the CIAA to do the work they wanted on Monday.
We called him and asked, "You were also on the team that kept the CIAA team in the Prime Minister's Office for about 9 hours on Monday and forced them to issue arrest warrants for some government officials according to your wishes, weren't you?"
He accepted that he was there.
Then we asked, "The CIAA is a constitutional body. It is a body that also monitors the government when necessary and provides checks and balances. It is not a body under the government. You are also the coordinator of the Constitution Amendment Task Force formed by the government. Why did you call the CIAA team and pressure them by saying 'You will not be allowed to go home without proceeding with action against these individuals'…?"
Before the question could be finished, Asim Shah said, "Let's do this… I will not talk to you on the phone about this matter. I’ll meet and talk in person."
He refused to talk further. He hung up the phone saying he would meet in person and talk the next day.
