Nepal Home Minister denies involvement in visit visa scam, rejects calls for resignation

Kathmandu [Nepal], June 13 : Nepal Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has denied involvement in the visit visa scam, rejecting calls for resignation and claiming the accusations are politically motivated attacks on him.

Addressing Friday's session of the House of Representatives, Lekhak stated that the claims of his involvement in the case currently under investigation by the anti-graft agency "don't bear any truth."

"The investigation being conducted by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authorities (CIAA), where I am alleged to be under the purview, being reported in the media and spread on social media, doesn't bear any truth. I don't have any involvement in the alleged incident, and my involvement can't be established; I can claim it. In a planned, machinable way, it is a political attack on me," the Home Minister said.

Lekhak assured the House that he is willing to cooperate fully with the anti-graft body and appear for questioning if necessary. He criticised demands for his resignation based on the implication of government officials, calling such expectations unjust.

Friday's address by the home minister came amid sloganeering by the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party against him. Both parties continue to insist on the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the visit visa scandal.

Earlier on Friday, the ruling CPN-UML, the Nepali Congress, and the Maoist Centre reached a two-point agreement to resolve the parliamentary deadlock. As per the agreement, a suitable mechanism would be formed to investigate and study the issue thoroughly. The Maoists agreed to lift the obstruction of parliamentary proceedings, while RSP and RPP remain unconvinced and demand a formal parliamentary probe.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authorities (CIAA) investigation anomalies while sending Nepali nationals abroad on "visit visa". The investigation spotlighted numerous actors, including immigration officers, travel agents, and even those with controversial histories in government offices.

Amongst those key figures, Joint Secretary at Home Ministry- Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, the emblematic of the system's return to a high-ranking position at TIA after a controversial tenure elsewhere raised eyebrows. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak had appointed him as the Chief of Immigration at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) who previously also had been alleged in corruption scandals and cases. Bhattarai was transferred back to the Home Minister just a day before the CIAA raid at the Immigration office at the airport.

On May 21, Bhattarai, the Joint Secretary at the Home Ministry and former Chief Immigration Officer at Tribhuvan International Airport, was arrested by police following the CIAA probe into alleged links with a human trafficking ring. He had only been transferred to the Home Ministry the previous evening. Prior to that, he headed the immigration office at TIA, where the CIAA launched a raid shortly before his arrest.

The raid was initiated by the anti-graft agency following multiple complaints about officials collecting large sums of money and illegally facilitating foreign travel on visit visas. The CIAA also confiscated computers, mobile phones, and other devices from the immigration office for detailed investigation. The scam allegedly operated with the assistance of officials at the immigration office and had links to people in the private secretariat of Home Minister Lekhak, the opposition lawmakers had claimed.

As per the lawmakers, travellers heading to Europe have reportedly paid up to NRs 300,000 to ensure clearance at TIA. These illicit payments are funnelled through coded conversations, unregistered bank transactions, and backdoor dealings involving travel agents and corrupt officials.

This system functions daily and handles hundreds of cases, with about 400 Nepalis attempting to travel on visit visas each day. The operation's scale and consistency suggest institutional complicity, with minimal fear of legal repercussions until the recent crackdown by the CIAA.

Nepal Home Minister Lekhak has been under scrutiny by the opposition parties following the suspicions that these funds are funnelled up the hierarchy to senior Home Ministry officials. Several media reports also named members of Lekhak's personal secretariat being involved in the case where the fraudulent visa scheme generates illicit payments estimated at NPR 5 million a day.

Many of the key personnel at the airport, including immigration officers directly involved in visa issuance, were handpicked by the Home Minister Lekhak, which the opposition claims have now become a system driven more by loyalty than merit. As the Home Minister, Lekhak bears command responsibility for these malpractices and the broader mismanagement under his watch. The controversy escalated with Lekhak's appointment of Joint Secretary Tirtharaj Bhattarai as Chief Immigration Officer at TIA.

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