Mahendra Jung Shah, who was arrested by the Malaysian Immigration Department, faces charges ranging from terrorism to human trafficking.
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The Malaysian Immigration Department last week arrested nine people, including Nepali businessman Mahendra Jung Shah, on charges of leading a gang that illegally brought foreign nationals to Malaysia and made fake visas. After the arrest, Immigration Director-General Zakaria Shaban held a press conference and said that they had succeeded in breaking the network of a gang that was involved in human trafficking and making fake documents.
According to Director-General Shaban, the gang led by Shah has been found to have made illegal transactions worth more than 100 million ringgit (about 3.37 billion rupees) in the last seven years. 'This operation was carried out after collecting intelligence for about six months,' he said at a press conference, 'This gang used to bring foreign workers to Malaysia illegally. Then they would make fake documents.'
Shah, 43, was arrested while trying to flee in a car from Jalan Galwai in the capital Kuala Lumpur. The other arrested individuals are Indian, Bangladeshi, Malaysian and a Vietnamese. Passports, laptops, mobile phones and fake visa stickers of 111 people, including Nepalis, were seized from them.
Investigations have revealed that the group was charging a fee of 5,000 to 6,000 ringgit from each person for bringing foreign nationals to Malaysia and making fake visas.
Shah, 43, from Kalikot, who has been living in Malaysia for two decades, is a controversial businessman. He is accused of using his connections with the police and dons to intimidate Nepali workers and businessmen.
Shah was deported by Malaysia 10 years ago (on September 2, 2016) for his alleged links to terrorist groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 'He used to run hotels and entertainment businesses.' We believe he is involved in making fake documents to facilitate the travel of terrorists,’ said the then Inspector General of Police of Malaysia, Khalid Abu Bakar, in a statement issued after his arrest.
After being arrested and deported to Nepal after 14 days of investigation, the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, arrested him from Tribhuvan International Airport. He was charged under public offenses at the District Administration Office, Kathmandu. However, the administration office released him on a bail of 6,000 rupees within a week due to lack of evidence. Shah had said that he had no connection with the terrorist group.
In September 2024, the National Central Bureau of the International Police Organization (Interpol) Singapore had sought information from the Nepal Police regarding Shah. It was said that he was being monitored on suspicion of financing terrorist activities.
Even before Shah was arrested in 2016, Nepali workers had started filing complaints against him at the embassy. Nepalis arrested in Malaysia for fake visas had filed a complaint against him. At that time, more than 30 complaints mentioned that he had provided fake two-year ‘professional visas’ for 11,000 ringgit (about 400,000 rupees) per person. After receiving the victim’s complaint, the Nepali Embassy wrote to Malaysian authorities requesting them to take action.
Shah is also the former president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association, Malaysia. He was removed from his post with one year left in his term for defrauding foreign employment agents and workers.
Shah, who was deported from Malaysia again after being deported, re-entered the country using a ‘professional visa (DP 10)’. The visa is usually issued to highly skilled or management-level individuals. ‘According to Malaysian law, people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities should be permanently barred from entering.’ However, it is not clear how he managed to re-enter the country,’ Malaysian media outlet Malaysiakini reported, citing a Malaysian immigration source.
Shah told Malaysiakini, ‘If I had really been involved in terrorist activities, I would have been prosecuted under Malaysia’s strict laws.’
According to records from the Companies Authority of Malaysia (CA), he has been a director of Stellar Diamond Sdn Bhd since May 2024. He owns 40 percent of the company. The remaining shares of the company are held by a local citizen. The company provides cleaning services.
He has been living with Vietnamese citizen Nguyen Thi Ngan. The woman is also a director of HCC Cleaning Services Company. She has also been drawn into the scope of the investigation on suspicion of being involved in this illegal business.
He used to sell ‘demand’ to manpower
In Malaysia, employers have to make a demand letter for workers to bring workers from abroad. Since Shah had access to the employing companies there, those companies were ready to bring workers through Shah. Therefore, Shah would not be involved in the process of bringing employers himself, but would buy ‘demand’ from employers and sell it to manpower companies. Recently, the quota of one worker is being traded for at least 3,000 ringgit.
Shah is also linked to the death of a Nepali in Malaysia two years ago. On 24 Chaitra 2079, 46-year-old Renji Rai, the owner of Marvelous Employment, was found dead in a hostel of Star Domain Research Company in Nilai, Malaysia. Although he was said to have committed ‘suicide’, his family has not accepted it. Rai's wife Indrasuba had filed a complaint with the Malaysian government through the Prime Minister's Office to investigate Shankar Prasad Acharya, Mahendra Jung Shah and Swan Lee, alleging suspicious deaths. 'There are very few businessmen who have not been hurt by Mahendra Jung Shah.' A Nepali businessman said, 'Everyone who knows his behavior has started staying away from him.'
