Kaski District Court orders revocation of GB Rai’s passport
KATHMANDU, Jan 18: The Kaski District Court, on Friday, ordered the Department of Passports to revoke the passport of Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, the mastermind behind the cooperative scams, who is widely believed to be hiding in Malaysia.
Rai is accused of illegally funneling depositors’ savings in billions of rupees from five different cooperatives across the country to his now defunct company, Gorkha Media Network.
According to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the government of Malaysia is under no obligation to extradite Rai to Nepal as there exists no bilateral extradition treaty between the two countries.
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“Since we have no extradition treaty with Malaysia, we can request them to extradite Rai back to Nepal but they are under no obligation to do so,” Under Secretary (Law) at MoFA Puskar Raj Nepal told Republica.
He added that there is no legal provision in Nepal to revoke passports but only a provision to declare them invalid. “After the Department of Passports receives the written order from the court, it can declare the passports invalid,” he said, “However, it is in the jurisdiction of the Department of Immigration (DoI) to stop his travels.”
Director of the DoI Dharm Raj Joshi informed Republica that the department does not need a letter directly from the court to bar Rai from traveling to and fro Nepal. “As long as we receive a letter from any concerned authority, be it the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nepal Police or the MoFA, we can bar the said individual from travelling to and fro Nepal,” he said.
Since the foreign ministry is limited to requesting the Malaysian government for extraditing Rai back to Nepal and the DoI can only bar his travel specifically to and fro Nepal, it appears that the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, is the most suitable authority in helping the Nepal government in bringing the absconding fugitive back to Nepal. The National Central Bureau (NCB), Nepal, which coordinates the Interpol-related activities in Nepal, had issued a diffusion notice against Rai on January 27, 2024, which was upgraded to a Red notice after he was located in Malaysia.
Spokesperson for Nepal Police, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dinesh Kumar Acharya told Republica that the NCB, Nepal, will inform the NCB, Malaysia of the development in GB Rai’s status after his passport is declared invalid, strengthening the case for the arrest of Rai in Malaysia.
“After Rai’s passport is declared invalid, the NCB, Malaysia will have a stronger case to arrest him,” DIG Acharya said, “However, Interpol has no authority to extradite individuals.”
If a person is located in a country based on an Interpol Red Notice, that country's authorities must decide whether to arrest and extradite the individual based on their domestic laws and the terms of extradition treaties between the countries involved. Its role is to provide information and assist law enforcement agencies in member countries, leaving legal actions, including extradition, to national authorities.
On Friday, a single bench of Judge Himal Belbase issued a final verdict on the case registered by the District Government Attorney’s Office (DGAO), Kaski, directing the Department of Passports to revoke Rai’s passport.
A single bench of Judge Nabaraj Dahal had postponed the hearing on the case on January 13, citing the unavailability of time to take a decision on the case. Earlier, the court had refused to order the revocation of Rai’s passport when the Police had requested to do so.
