KATHMANDU, April 8: A day after honorary consul of Kyrgyzstan in Nepal Sulav Agrawal was found to have misused the vehicle with special registration provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the ministry has decided to withdraw certain facilities and privileges provided to the honorary consuls based in Nepal.

In a press statement, the ministry said late Wednesday that the privilege of using blue plate and the flag in official vehicle of the honorary consuls in Nepal has been suspended with immediate effect until further notice.

"In the context of the incident in which an Honorary Consul was found to have engaged in illegal activity misusing his position and privilege granted for his official function, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to withdraw certain facilities and privileges provided to the Honorary Consuls based in Nepal," read a the press statement.

Since June 19, 2007, the government provided separate vehicle registration numbers with diplomatic privileges to consul generals and consuls based in Nepal. The Girija Prasad Koirala-led government had decided to pvovide such diplomatic privilege at the request of consul generals and consuls helping them to carry out their work effectively, without them having to face problems during emergencies. The consul generals and consuls had been asking the MoFA to arrange such facilities for a long time.

Prior to that, the honorary consul generals and consuls deputed to Nepal would use private number plates on their vehicles. They were being denied other diplomatic privileges too. The blue number plates read HCC (Honorary Consular Corps) with an issued number provided by MoFA.

Agrawal, a high-profile industrialist and honorary consul of Kyrgyzstan in Nepal was arrested on Tuesday on the charge of black marketing thermal scanners. He was arrested red-handed by police in possession of 66 units of thermal scanner. At the time he was in a vehicle with special registration number 209-HCC-1 provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Police have taken control of the vehicle. According to SSP Sahakul Thapa, police are interrogating Agrawal, who is now in custody.

 
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