KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Nepali Ambassador to Australia, Lucky Sherpa resigned from the post on Friday following a controversy after accusations of her involvement in human trafficking. 

Though envoy Sherpa has denied the accusations, her former driver Wongchhu Sherpa accused that Sherpa and her husband were involved in human trafficking and collecting money from people after promising them a safe passage to Australia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had formed a three-member panel to investigate the allegations. The panel had recommended relieving Sherpa from her duties, after interrogating her in Kathmandu earlier this week.

After the ministry's investigation, Prime Minister KP Oli and Chairperson of ruling Nepal Communist Party Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed Sherpa to tender her resignation. Sherpa then flew back to Australia and returned home packing up all her belongings, after top leaders asked her to step down on her own to ensure her a 'dignified exit'. 

Issuing a press statement on Friday, Sherpa denied allegations against her and accused the media of victimizing her by writing stories against her based on wrong accusations. 

“I have submitted my resignation to the government on moral grounds, believing in my prestige and dignity as supreme,” reads her statement. She has also challenged to establish the allegations made against her and also demanded actions against her former driver Wongchhu, who had accused her. A former member of the first Constituent Assembly (CA) in 2008, Sherpa was appointed the Nepali envoy to Australia in 2016 for four years.

 
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