KATHMANDU: The Kathmandu District Court has sentenced former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Bal Krishna Khand to two years in prison in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.
In its final sentencing delivered on Tuesday, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Khand.
On July 7, the court had convicted Khand and former minister and CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi of offenses against the state for their roles in the scheme to send Nepali citizens to the United States by falsely presenting them as Bhutanese refugees. The sentencing, however, had been deferred until Tuesday.
Former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey and Keshav Prasad Dulal, former personal secretary to Nepali Congress leader Sujata Koirala, were also convicted of offenses against the state.
The court also found Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Dr. Indrajit Rai, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary (alias Bikram), and Angtawa Sherpa guilty of offenses against the state and related combined offenses in connection with the refugee scam.
According to the verdict, they were involved in a scheme to fraudulently send Nepali citizens to the United States by portraying them as fake Bhutanese refugees.
Refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal was also convicted in the case. Similarly, Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Hari Bhakta Maharjan, and Niranjan Kumar Kharel were found guilty of acting as accomplices in offenses against the state.
On the charge of document forgery, however, only Tek Nath Rizal, Keshav Prasad Dulal, and Sanu Bhandari were convicted, while all other defendants were acquitted of that charge.
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