KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Three days after the Kaski District Court ordered the Department of Passports (DoP) to revoke the passport of fugitive Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the embezzlement of billions of rupees from several cooperatives across the country, the department is yet to start the process for the revocation of his passport.
According to the officials from the DoP, the department is yet to receive the official letter from the court, which has affected the initiation of the process to revoke the passport. “We have not yet received the official order from the court directing us to revoke the passport,” DoP’s information officer Kiran Kumar Gurung told Republica.
However, officials from the Kaski District Court confirmed to Republica that they have already sent both a digital copy and a hard-copy of the order to the department on Friday following the decision of the court. “We sent a digital copy of the order to the DoP via e-mail on Friday,” Head Clerk of the court Rajan Khanal said, “In addition, we also sent a paper copy of the order to the department on Friday.”
Police write to Department of Passport to revoke GB Rai's passp...
He added that while it is understandable for the hard-copy of the order to be delivered a day late, the DoP would have received the e-mail instantaneously, alerting the DoP of the anticipated action.
In addition to the sluggish pace of the DoP in ‘receiving’ the order, the department also adds an extra step before finally revoking the passport. According to information officer Gurung, the director general of the department would need to hold a meeting to decide whether or not to revoke the passport. However, Director General of the DoP Tirtha Raj Aryal is currently on a trip out of the valley, and is only scheduled to return on Monday.
“When the DG Aryal finally attends office on Monday and if we receive the written order by that time, he will hold a consultation meeting with other directors and legal experts before making a decision on the matter,” Gurung told Republica.
Under Secretary (Law) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Puskar Raj Nepal informed Republica that the director general of the DoP has the prerogative to hold a consultation meeting before revoking a passport.
“Since it is a matter of national security, the DG can hold a meeting to make a final decision about revoking the passport,” Nepal told Republica, “However, it is expected that he will suspend the passport in line with the court’s order.”
He added that the DoP cannot revoke the passport of a person, but only suspend it. “It is a technical problem that we cannot revoke the passport, since no such provision exists within the scope of action of the DoP,” Nepal said.
GB Rai is the main accused of funneling billions of rupees of the depositors’ savings of five different cooperatives across the country into his Gorkha Media Network. He has been located hiding in Malaysia. Since Nepal has signed no extradition treaty with Malaysia, it would be a legal hurdle to bring Rai back to Nepal even if he is arrested by the Malaysian authorities.
