Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday said the government will move ahead steadfastly to take action against those indulged in corruption.

Talking to journalists following a meeting with CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, the prime minister said the campaign against corruption will continue, adding the government will move ahead as per the law.

“This campaign will not stop. It will move forward with determination based on process and method. I will not bow down before any pressure. The process will move ahead,” said Prime Minister Dahal.

The prime minister’s remarks came at a time when police have arrested top officials and other individuals and arrest warrants have been issued against many individuals including former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi allegedly for being involved in a scam of swindling scores of people promising them of sending to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

Dahal said so responding to journalists’ questions while emerging from the meeting with UML chair Oli. According to him the UML chair during the meeting had enquired about the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

“He expressed his concern about the matter in the last meeting and in the meeting today as well. But he didn’t speak directly to protect Top Bahadur Rayamajhi,” said Dahal.

The prime minister added that the government will not bow down to any sort of pressure.

Emerging from the meeting with the prime minister, Oli however claimed that he was not attempting to protect those accused in the Bhutanese refugee scam.

Speaking to journalists after an hour-long meeting with the prime minister, Oli refuted allegations that he was meeting the prime minister frequently in a bid to protect the culprits.

“Do you believe that I am working to protect the culprits? These are rumours spread by some people with bad intentions,” said Oli.

He however didn’t reveal what he actually talked about with the prime minister.

Oli said he is not in contact with former minister Rayamajhi, one of the accused in the scam.

CPN-UML Secretary Rayamajhi is on the run after an arrest warrant was issued against him. Rayamajhi, who is also a federal lawmaker from Arghakhanchi, has been implicated in the scam whereby Nepali nationals would be sent to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

Surya Kiran Sharma, press coordinator to the prime minister, said they talked about contemporary issues. He didn’t divulge the details of the meeting.

Oli had earlier met the prime minister on Thursday and had objected to the issuance of the arrest warrant against Rayamajhi.

The UML chair, during the meeting on Thursday, had reportedly objected to the way Rayamajhi was “being hounded by the police”.

“Rayamajhi is not a suspicious character who would evade arrest,” Oli had told the media. “There must be some conspiracy behind the attempt to arrest him.”

A total of eight people including Tek Narayan Pandey, who was currently a secretary at the Vice President’s Office and previously as Home Secretary, and other officials have been arrested so far on the charge of their alleged involvement in the scam.

On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police had launched an investigation into a criminal group involved in a case of fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people for years by promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees.

The government action was in response to a case filed by the victims at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority against the group a few months earlier. The case was brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division only in June 2022 after which the investigation was launched.

The group has allegedly swindled over 875 people from different places in Nepal of millions of rupees.

The police earlier arrested Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Thulung Rai, Tanka Gurung and Sandesh Sharma Pokhrel as a suspected prime accused in the case. All of them had strong political connections.

According to police, the suspects have admitted to collecting between one to five million rupees per head from many Nepalis by promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees.