The authorities have issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, former foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba.

Two officials from the Kathmandu District Court said the warrants were issued based on a letter from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI). “The single bench of judge Mahendra Bahadur Karki granted permission for the arrests on Tuesday,” a source at the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

Following this development, the Deuba couple have been placed on the fugitive list.

According to the home ministry source, the issuance of the warrants is a preliminary step towards seeking a Red Notice [from Interpol] to bring the couple, who are currently abroad, back to Nepal. “The process for the Red Notice will now move forward,” the source said.

The Deubas are under investigation for money laundering. In the course of the probe, the DMLI has frozen all movable and immovable assets registered in their names and in the names of their family members.

Meanwhile, Sher Bahadur Deuba, on Wednesday evening, claimed via a Facebook post that “misleading and false propaganda” was being circulated regarding his family’s wealth. Stating that he learned about the investigation through media reports, he wrote: “I have submitted the factual details of our assets to the relevant government agencies during my tenure in public office, abiding by the legal provisions.”

Deuba further maintained that he believes state organs in a democracy must be independent and competent. He said he had implemented the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Act and the Corruption Prevention Act during his tenure to “maintain good governance and transparency while building a corruption-free society.”

Deuba served as a member of parliament seven times and as prime minister five times, while his wife Arzu has been a lawmaker three times and a minister once.

A home minister in 1991, Deuba served as prime minister five times—in 1995, 2001, 2004, 2017, and 2021.

He was elected from his home district of Dadeldhura in every parliamentary and Constituent Assembly elections between 1991 and 2022.

His wife Arzu served as a proportional representation lawmaker for the Nepali Congress in 2008, 2013, and 2022. She was the foreign minister until the Gen Z protests last September.

Despite long-standing allegations of laundering wealth acquired through abuse of office under political protection, the Deuba family had not previously faced investigation. This is likely the first instance in Nepal where an arrest warrant has been issued against a former prime minister on money laundering charges.

Similarly, the government has moved forward with detailed money laundering investigations against two other former prime ministers, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Earlier, former minister Deepak Khadka was arrested on similar charges.

The Deubas are currently abroad with their family. Deuba left for Singapore on February 25. Arzu had reached Singapore via India prior to that. Though both had briefly travelled to Hong Kong for medical treatment, they later returned to Singapore.

Nepal is a member state of Interpol, the international police co-operation organisation. If a person involved in a crime flees their country to avoid investigation or prosecution, the police of the concerned country can seek Interpol’s assistance to bring them to justice.

Interpol then issues a Red Notice and circulates it globally to locate the fugitive through its member states. However, specific procedures must be met before a Red Notice is issued.

According to a police officer involved in criminal investigations, the investigating agency must first register the offence in the criminal record book and then obtain an arrest warrant from a court. It is to fulfil this legal requirement that the warrants were issued against the Deuba couple.

In Nepal, the Inspector General of Police serves as an ex-officio member of Interpol. In every country, Interpol designates the head of the criminal investigation police organisation as the head of the National Central Bureau (NCB). The NCB secretariat can request Interpol to issue various notices, including Red Notices, to trace fugitives.

Interpol reviews the details of the request and, if deemed necessary, issues the notice and circulates it to the NCB secretariats of all member states. Once the person is located or arrested, they can be repatriated in coordination with the requesting country’s police. The same process is expected to be followed in the case of the Deuba couple.

On September 9, 2025, the second day of the Gen Z protests, protesters physically assaulted the Deuba couple. The Army rescued them and took them to a hospital. They left for Singapore for treatment on October 27 and returned on November 14, 2025. However, Deuba flew back to Singapore on February 25.

Arzu had earlier left for Delhi, India, via Tribhuvan International Airport on January 5, citing personal reasons, before travelling onwards to Singapore. Their son, Jaiveer, had left Nepal for Thailand on September 2, 2025 and for Singapore from there.