Interpol returned the letter last week, citing insufficient documents required to issue a red notice.
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Interpol has refused for the second time to issue a red notice against former Prime Minister and former Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife and former Foreign Minister Arju Rana, who are being investigated for money laundering.
Interpol has rejected Nepal's request for issuing a notice against the Deuba couple, saying that the documents required were insufficient.
According to officials from the Nepal Police and the Money Laundering Investigation Department, the letter was returned last week. 'The department's previous request to send a letter to Interpol for a red notice stated that the documents were not sufficient, so the department asked us to request it again for the second time by adding some details. After that, we sent a letter to Interpol in the third week of Baisakh, but according to the second letter, the response was that the documents were still not sufficient for issuing the notice,' a police official told Kantipur on condition of anonymity, 'We have forwarded this information received from Interpol to the department.'
An official from the department also confirmed that Interpol had responded by requesting additional documents for issuing the notice. The department's director and information officer, Uttam Kumar Ghimire, however, responded that he was not aware of the notice as it was a matter under investigation. The department had obtained an arrest warrant against the Deuba couple from the Kathmandu District Court on Chaitra 24 for investigation on money laundering charges. The Deuba couple were abroad when the warrant was issued by the court. They are still abroad.
After obtaining the arrest warrant, the department had requested the Nepal Police to request Interpol to issue a red notice. The police then sent a letter to Interpol. The Asia Pacific Regional Office of Interpol, headquartered in France, is in Singapore. The police had requested the Asia Pacific Regional Office in Singapore to issue the notice.
The department is investigating the Deuba couple on money laundering charges. The Deuba couple, who went to Singapore ahead of the February 21 House of Representatives elections, are currently in Hong Kong, according to Deuba's close associates. The department had requested Interpol to issue a red notice through Nepal Police with a plan to arrest both of them from abroad and bring them to Nepal. However, after Interpol refused to issue the notice in the current situation, the government's efforts to bring the Deuba couple to Nepal from abroad have failed.
According to officials involved in the investigation, Interpol has returned the letter issuing the notice seeking more clarity by including issues such as 'What is the relevant crime? Under which law is the investigation being conducted against them? How much money has been laundered against the accused?'. Earlier, Interpol had returned the letter requesting issuance of the notice in the second week of Baisakh, but the police had sent it again for the second time on Baisakh. The source said that the letter was returned for the second time by including the same issues and seeking further answers.
Bringing assets acquired through illegal activities into formal financial channels is considered money laundering. For that, it must be confirmed that the assets were acquired illegally by committing another crime. Interpol has once again asked what such an offense, which is called a related offense in legal language, is in the case of the Deuba couple.
The Federal Parliament amended the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2064 and delegated the authority to investigate money laundering from the department to 13 different agencies, including the police and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. The law with this provision was published in the Gazette on 30 Chaitra 2080. In the case of complaints received since then, the department itself cannot investigate and send them to the government attorney's office for filing cases. For that, the related offense must be disclosed to say which crime the money was laundered from. Interpol has also asked what offense is related to the investigation being conducted against the Deuba couple? The question is asked.
Deuba has held public office as Prime Minister 5 times, MP 7 times and Rana 1 time as minister and MP 3 times. The constitutional body that investigates corruption or abuse of office by a person holding a public office is the Authority. However, the Authority has not investigated both of them, so the department is directly investigating the crime of money laundering.
During the Gen-G movement on 24 Bhadra last year, the Deuba couple were beaten by protesters at their residence in Budhanilkantha, and their residence was vandalized and set on fire. In the evening, security personnel rescued both of them and took them to the hospital. After staying in the hospital for some time, they were later discharged and stayed outside. Later, both of them went to Singapore for further treatment.
After that, both of them went to Singapore for treatment on 10 Kartik. After 18 days, on 28 Kartik, the Deuba couple returned to Nepal. Then Arju went to Delhi on 21 Poush. From there, she went to Singapore. Deuba went to Singapore on 13 Falgun, the week before the election. After that, it is said that he went to Hong Kong for treatment, but it is not certain where both of them are now.
Deuba had expressed his dissatisfaction on the social media Facebook over the arrest warrant issued against him on 24 Chaitra. He had claimed that there was misleading propaganda about his and his family's property. 'As per the law of Nepal, I would like to inform you that we submitted the exact details of our property to the relevant government body while holding public office,' he wrote on Facebook. 'I appeal to everyone not to be misled by the details that have been made public in an exaggerated manner.'
