Nepal foreign ministry official charged over alleged travel document misuse

Seventeen years after a case first surfaced, a senior official from Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs faces charges related to the alleged misuse of the country's travel document system. The investigation, which began in 2009, exposed a system potentially exploited to provide government-issued papers to individuals not registered as refugees in Nepal.

The allegations center on Pushpa Raj Bhattarai, a joint secretary at the ministry, who was a section officer at the Department of Passports in 2009. Investigators claim Bhattarai approved travel documents for five Tibetans from Indian refugee settlements, who were allegedly misrepresented as residents of Nepal. This action, prosecutors argue, constitutes an offense under Nepal's passport laws.

The case gained traction when five Tibetans arrived at the German Embassy in Kathmandu seeking visas, presenting Nepal-issued travel documents and claiming to be recent arrivals from Tibet. The speed at which they obtained these papers raised immediate questions, triggering an investigation that has since uncovered missing document booklets and potential financial irregularities.

Bhattarai has denied any wrongdoing, telling investigators that he was unaware of how the documents were prepared and suggesting his signature might have been forged. The Kathmandu District Attorney's Office has filed a passport offense case against him, seeking imprisonment and fines. A second foreign ministry employee was also implicated but died before charges could be filed.

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He told investigators that he did not know how the documents were prepared and that his signature may have been misused.