The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has opened separate probes into the assets of the then personal secretaries of three former prime ministers—KP Sharma Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal—after the Department of Money Laundering Investigation forwarded the cases for further scrutiny. 

The CIAA is investigating Rajesh Bajracharya, who served Oli; Bhanu Deuba, who served Deuba; and Ganga Dahal, who served her father, Pushpa Kamal Dahal. A CIAA commissioner said the money laundering department had conducted a preliminary study and reported to the anti-graft body after finding that the cases involved no related predicate offence within its jurisdiction.

“We have since moved ahead with the investigation,” the commissioner said. Separate complaints had also been filed with the CIAA calling for investigations into each of them.

The commission has formed a joint team of civil servants and police officers and has written to more than 20 agencies seeking details of the three individuals’ finances and assets. The requests have gone to Nepal Rastra Bank, land revenue offices and agencies responsible for shares, vehicles and other property records.

“Letters have already been sent to every agency where their shares, vehicles and other assets may be recorded,” said a CIAA investigating officer. Officials said they were preparing to interrogate all three soon.

The inquiry is also looking at banking transactions that investigators consider unusual. “Some unusual banking transactions have been seen,” an official said. “We are examining them further.”

In Bhanu’s case, investigators have asked him to fill out a 13-page asset disclosure form covering bank accounts, shares, land and buildings, vehicles, loans, foreign travel, family members’ property and investments in companies. CIAA officials said they have asked agencies to provide records corresponding to the information detailed in the form, with some responses already received.

Bhanu has long worked closely with Sher Bahadur Deuba. He served as Deuba’s chief personal secretary and handled meetings when Deuba was prime minister. He also accompanied Deuba when the former prime minister travelled to Singapore on February 25 for medical treatment.

During last year’s Gen Z protests, the government’s excessive use of force left 22 people dead in a single day. As the situation spiralled out of control, former prime minister Deuba and his wife, then foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba, were assaulted inside their home. Their residence in Budhanilkantha was also vandalised and set on fire.

Nepali and foreign currencies were found at Deuba’s residence at the time. The Sushila Karki-led government later launched an investigation into the Deuba couple and their family, bringing Bhanu within the scope of the probe as well.

Deuba returned to Nepal on August 13 after more than five months abroad while facing a separate money laundering investigation. The Supreme Court in May had barred his arrest after a Kathmandu District Court warrant was challenged.

Ganga’s financial transactions are also being examined. She is the youngest daughter of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and served as his personal assistant when he was prime minister. She played a significant role in her father’s secretariat and political dealings.

The investigation has also revisited the fire at Ganga’s residence in Lalitpur during the Gen Z protests. The Department of Money Laundering Investigation collected burnt currency fragments and ash from the site and sent samples for forensic examination with assistance from the Central Investigation Bureau. A department official said laboratory analysis found traces of currency in the ash.

Dahal has denied claims that illegal cash was found at his daughter’s house. Ganga said in June that she was ready to cooperate with any government investigation and rejected what she described as baseless allegations.

The CIAA is also examining the assets of Ganga’s husband, Jeevan Acharya, a former minister in Koshi province. Ganga told the Post that she had not been questioned yet but had been called to give a statement. “I have not been questioned; I have been called to give a statement,” she said. “The state agency can investigate. In fact, I wish it would complete the investigation sooner.”

Bajracharya’s case has a longer trail of allegations. Police had recommended that the CIAA investigate him after examining the controversial lease of government land at Durbar Marg to the Yeti Group. Investigators said Bajracharya had acquired land in Balkot from the business group, with the property estimated to be worth around Rs40 million. Land records, however, showed a transaction of only Rs9.6 million, according to officials involved in the inquiry.

Bajracharya’s name had also surfaced during the investigation into the fake Bhutanese refugee scam. Keshav Prasad Dulal, an accused of the scam, told investigators that he had handed Rs10 million to Bajracharya at Baluwatar in 2019 through Lila GC, then chief personal secretary to former energy minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi. Bajracharya could not be reached for comment.

Oli has previously rejected the allegations against his aide, saying they were intended to damage him politically. In an interview in December 2025, he described the attempt to link Bajracharya to the Yeti Group as a ‘sponsored’ effort made in bad faith.

The latest CIAA investigation comes amid a wider push to scrutinise the wealth of politicians and officials. The Balendra Shah government formed a five-member Property Inquiry Commission under former Supreme Court justice Rajendra Kumar Bhandari to examine assets accumulated by public officials over roughly two decades. The Supreme Court, however, ordered the commission to maintain the status quo, preventing it from compelling further asset declarations in July.