Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday convicted former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former home minister Bal Krishna Khand and 14 others in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, finding them guilty of conspiring to send Nepali citizens to the United States by passing them off as Bhutanese refugees.

Three years after the case was filed, a single bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka convicted the defendants of forgery, fraud, organised crime and offences against the state, depending on the nature of the charges and each defendant's role in the scheme. Along with Rayamajhi and Khand, former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, members of the network Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai and Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, security adviser to then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, have been convicted.

Others convicted include Govinda Chaudhary, former Nepali Congress lawmaker Angtawa Sherpa; Shamsher Miya, then chair of the Haj Committee; Narendra KC, personal secretary to then home minister Khand; alleged middleman Hari Bhakta Maharjan; and Niranjan Kumar Kharel. The bench is yet to determine a penalty against them. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for July 13 to determine the penalties.

Describing the case as an offence against the state, the court observed that the scheme directly undermined the dignity of Nepali citizens and damaged Nepal's international reputation.

Of the 31 individuals originally charged in the case, the court acquitted seven, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against them, while keeping the cases against the remaining absconding defendants in abeyance. Those acquitted are Sandeep Rayamajhi (son of former deputy PM Rayamajhi), Ram Sharan KC, Tanka Kumar Gurung, Pratik Thapa (son of UML leader and former Maoist commander Ram Bahadur Thapa), Laxmi Maharjan, Keshav Tuladhar and Ashish Budhathoki.

The Kathmandu District Court's brief order states that the cases against the defendants who remain absconding have been kept in abeyance and will proceed in accordance with the law once they are arrested.

The absconding defendants whose cases have been held in abeyance are Ashok Pokharel, Dhiren Rai, Deepa Humagain, Niraj Rai, Rajesh Aryal, Mohan Raj Rai, Binita Sawden Limbu and Sunil Budhathoki.

As per the court order exiled Bhutanese leader Tek Nath Rizal, along with alleged network members Dulal and Sanu Bhandari, was convicted of forgery. Dulal, Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, Govinda Chaudhary, Angtawa Sherpa, former home secretary Pandey and Rayamajhi were convicted of fraud and organised crime.

Bechan Jha, a middleman, was convicted of fraud.

Khand was convicted as an accomplice in organised fraud. The court found that although there was no evidence he had personally received any money, he had acted under the network's undue influence and helped facilitate the fraud.

Similarly, Rizal, Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Hari Bhakta Maharjan and Niranjan Kumar Kharel were also convicted as accomplices in organised fraud, with the court finding no evidence that they had personally received any of the proceeds.

The court also convicted Dulal, Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, Govinda Chaudhary, Sherpa, Pandey and Rayamajhi of offences against the state, holding that they had collectively carried out the organised fraud in a manner that constituted crimes against the state. Khand, Rizal, Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Hari Bhakta Maharjan and Niranjan Kumar Kharel were convicted as accomplices in the offences against the state.

"It has been established that the offence of forgery was committed, as the fake report altered and added to the contents of the original report, and evidence was also found that counterfeit identity cards identifying individuals as Bhutanese refugees had been issued," the order says.

The court further held that the case constituted organised crime, noting that the fraud involved the coordinated participation of politicians, bureaucrats, government employees and middlemen.

"The offence of organised crime has been established because the coordinated scheme involved political figures, administrators, government employees and middlemen, who collectively defrauded victims of large sums of money by falsely promising to send them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. Such acts cannot be regarded as ordinary fraud committed by individuals," the order states.

The court also concluded that the scheme amounted to an offence against the state.

"As the offence directly undermined the dignity of Nepali citizens, tarnished the international image of the Nepali state and involved organised fraud, the charge of an offence against the state, as brought by the Government of Nepal, has been established," the order says.

The order further states that the prosecution's claim that the offence was part of an organised criminal enterprise had also been proven.

"Since the same incident has resulted in convictions for fraud, forgery of government documents, organised crime and offences against the state, the charge of an integrated offence has also been established. Accordingly, the accused are found guilty of fraud and organised crime as charged by the Government of Nepal," the order states.

Based on the police investigation report, the Kathmandu District Government Attorney's Office on May 24, 2023 , filed a case against 31 individuals, including Rayamajhi and Khand, charging them with four offences: forgery, fraud, organised crime, and offences against the state.

At the time the case was filed, 18 of the accused had been arrested. On June 15, 2023 , a bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Prem Prasad Neupane ordered Tanka Gurung to post bail of Rs1 million and Laxmi Maharjan Rs500,000, while remanding the remaining 16 arrested defendants to judicial custody pending trial.

The defendants who were detained challenged the order at the Patan High Court, where some of the accused were later released either on bail or on a regular court appearance (general date) pending trial.

The scandal first came to light after Kantipur exposed the scheme in May 2022. The revelation prompted investigations by the Kathmandu District Police Range and the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office.