Nepal court jails two ex-ministers over Bhutan refugee scam

A court in Nepal has sentenced two former senior government ministers to prison for their roles in a scheme that defrauded citizens by falsely promising to resettle them in the United States as Bhutanese refugees. The Kathmandu District Court handed down the sentences on July 14, 2026.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 40,000 rupees. Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand received a two-year sentence and a 20,000 rupee fine. The court convicted a total of 16 individuals, while acquitting seven others. The sentences were determined under Nepal's integrated sentencing system, which consolidates penalties for multiple offences.

The case centered on an organized racket that exploited a historical refugee resettlement program. In the early 1990s, over 100,000 ethnic Nepalis, known as Lhotshampa, fled Bhutan following changes to nationality laws and a "One Nation, One People" policy. Many lived in refugee camps in Nepal for years. A third-country resettlement program, which ran from 2007 to 2018, ultimately relocated the majority to the United States, with thousands more moving to Canada, Australia, and Europe.