The news that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had taken Tirtharaj Aryal, Director General of the Passport Department, into custody on Tuesday during an investigation into irregularities in the passport purchase contract came to light. The department's Information Technology Director Sunil Kumar KC was also arrested.

The details of the arrest had not yet been released by the CIAA. It was learned on Thursday that Aryal and KC were taken into custody by the CIAA on Monday, not Tuesday, and that too from the Prime Minister's Office after being handed over an urgent arrest warrant.

According to information collected by Kantipur and conversations with relevant sources, although it appears to be a routine investigation into the passport purchase contract, the executive body seems to have put pressure on the constitutional body. The constitutional body, the CIAA, did not expedite the investigation into this matter for a long time, but it seems that it has taken forward the investigation after being pressured by officials from Prime Minister Balendra Shah's secretariat. The CIAA has admitted in an informal conversation about the intensification of the investigation after pressure from the Prime Minister's Office. Prime Minister Shah's advisors had presented themselves strongly to the CIAA.

On June 6, 2025, the Passport Department awarded the e-passport contract to two German security printing companies, Veridos GmbH and Mühlbauer. The company was responsible for the registration system, data management, passport booklet production, personal details printing, quality control and packaging. A complaint was filed with the Authority immediately after the agreement.

‘The authorities in charge were not taking the investigation process forward on the complaint,’ said an official from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. ‘After Walendra Shah became Prime Minister, the complaint was filed again. We conducted a general study. The study showed signs of irregularities, after which we wrote to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority to investigate further.’

According to the official, the Authority did not take the investigation process forward for a week. Last Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office summoned the Chief Commissioner of the Authority, Prem Rai, to the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar for ‘discussions’. According to officials, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the passport purchase contract and the irregularities in it and the investigation being conducted by the authority. Seeing the possibility of discussing this issue, Chief Commissioner Rai had an internal discussion with some officials of the commission about whether it would be appropriate to inform the executive body about the investigation being conducted by the constitutional body. But when pressure came, Rai reached the Prime Minister's Office with some employees.

According to officials involved in the discussion at the Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister's advisors, including Kumar Byanjanakar and Asim Shah, were present at the meeting. The Prime Minister's advisors had told the officials including Chief Commissioner Rai that there were irregularities in the passport purchase process and that immediate action should be taken. ‘We spent the entire time at the Prime Minister’s Office from office hours till evening and faced questions from the Prime Minister’s advisors,’ said an official. ‘We did not meet the Prime Minister, all the discussions were conducted only by the advisors.’

Although the CIAA’s investigation into the passport contract irregularities case seems to have intensified due to pressure from Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s advisors, the executive body has been accused of undue interference in the constitutional body in this process. According to the official, Chief Commissioner Rai had said that the passport-related complaint was filed a year ago, that the case was pending in court, that the Public Procurement Monitoring Office had also ordered it, and that the investigation was delayed due to technical and other procedural reasons of the CIAA. ‘However, the Prime Minister’s advisors were getting angry and kept pressuring them to investigate quickly,’ said an official present at the meeting.

After that, Chief Commissioner Rai also called other CIAA commissioners Jaya Bahadur Chand, Hari Prasad Poudel and Sumitra Shrestha Amatya to the Prime Minister’s Office. ‘When the commissioners arrived, the Prime Minister’s advisors did not want to listen to them when they tried to explain the investigation and the constitutional scope,’ the official said. ‘Otherwise, the behavior was normal. Tea and snacks were brought to all the participants in the discussion from time to time.’

While the discussion was going on, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amrit Kumar Rai and some employees of the Prime Minister’s Office also entered the meeting. German Ambassador to Nepal Udo Eugen Volz was also sitting in another room, according to officials from the Prime Minister’s Office. He had reached the Prime Minister’s Office after learning that an investigation had been launched against a company that also has investment from the German government. ‘The Prime Minister’s Office also called officials from the passport contractor company Veridos during the discussion. They called the local representative of Veridos, Siddhartha Thapa,’ said an official who attended the meeting. ‘Thapa called the German Ambassador to Nepal Udo Volz. After making the ambassador wait for nearly three hours, an official from the Prime Minister's Office asked him why he had come. The advisors told him to come only with the permission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was rude and loud.'

The official further clarified the ambassador's behavior and said, 'The ambassador seemed dissatisfied, he left saying that the behavior of the Prime Minister's advisors was not good.'

The discussion with the authority officials continued till 7 pm. The advisors had pressured the authority officials to 'start the investigation into the passport irregularities from today, right here.' Aryal, the Director General of the Passport Department, who was present in the discussion, was handed an 'urgent arrest warrant' and taken into custody on the spot. In a short while, Sunil KC, the Director of the National Information Technology Center, was also arrested.

Tulsi Prasad Acharya, the then Accounts Officer of the Passport Department, and Manindra Malla, the Nepali representative of a German company, have also been arrested for allegedly committing irregularities in passport printing. The special court on Friday extended the remand of all four of them for a second time by 5 (five) days. CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane responded that he had nothing else to say except that the investigation is underway. 'The matter is under investigation, there is nothing else to say,' said spokesperson Neupane.

4 arrested, including an agent of a German company, in the passport purchase process dispute

Although this investigation has intensified, the question of interference in the constitutional body has been raised. Senior advocate Srihari Aryal says that he considers the behavior of the Prime Minister's advisor and aide, by calling the CIAA officials to Singha Durbar regarding the ongoing investigation into corruption, as a violation of the dignity of the constitutional institution. ‘The officials of the Authority should have protested against such unconstitutional and illegal actions, they should have been able to say that we are not ready to debate and discuss such issues, they failed in this,’ Aryal said, ‘I also do not find the work and methods of the Authority satisfactory . If the work of the Authority is not satisfactory, the Parliament has been given the right to remove it through impeachment, and they also have the numbers . It is not a good sign to be intimidated, reprimanded, threatened and pressured to investigate as I say .’

‘Both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Authority should clarify this issue,’ constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari commented that the country is getting into the same problem today that constitutional bodies were established to avoid. 

Commission officials pointed out the risk of civil liberties being jeopardized by proceeding with investigations as directed by the Prime Minister's Office, saying, "If the day comes when constitutional officers go to work in the Prime Minister's Office, the freedom and liberty of the Nepali people will not exist." The official said that the commission itself should be vigilant on this issue.

"If the CIAA starts taking guidance from the Prime Minister's Office, the CIAA will not be able to fulfill the expectations envisioned by the Nepali people," the official added. Although CIAA officers can go to the Prime Minister's Office to listen and express their views, the authority insists that the commissioners should exercise discretion.

Former Secretary Umesh Prasad Mainali, who is also the former chairman of the Public Service Commission, also says that it is unfortunate that the government is trying to control constitutional commissions. "The constitutional commissions, including the authority, are independent institutions created to self-regulate the government. Such commissions were conceived to control the government because the government could become biased. "The constitution itself has ensured the right to work autonomously," says Mainali, "The executive body can be interested, the Prime Minister can even urge them to increase their activity for good governance, but interfering in autonomous institutions and restricting their independent character in this way is unacceptable."

In this regard, Kantipur has summoned the Prime Minister's advisor Kumar Byanjanakar to the Prime Minister's Office and asked him why he told the head of the constitutional body to start this investigation immediately. Is it permissible to tell an official of a constitutional body like that? "No," he said.

Then why did he tell him to start the investigation immediately? Why did this situation arise? When asked, he said, "Nothing like that has been done." He said that the purpose of the 'discussion' with the heads of authority is 'a regular process of obtaining and providing information if something is happening.'

The alleged irregularities in passport procurement can be traced back to a decision made in June last year. At that time, UML's KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister. The government was supported by the Nepali Congress and Arzu Rana Deuba was the Foreign Minister in the Oli-led government. On June 6, 2025, the Passport Department awarded the contract for the e-passport system to two German security printing companies, Veridos GmbH and Mühlbauer. This included the registration system, data management, passport booklet production, personal details printing, quality control and packaging system. A complaint was filed with the Authority immediately after the agreement.

Although Authority officials claim that an investigation is underway into the complaint, sources in the Prime Minister's Office say that pressure has to be exerted as the investigation has not even begun. “The CIAA has intensified its investigation this week only after we put pressure on it,” said an official from the Prime Minister’s Office. “Our main concern is that the stock of passports is dwindling and our investigation has revealed irregularities in the procurement process.”

According to the contract agreement signed in June last year, the German companies were to supply the first batch of passports within 240 days. The German companies were to complete data migration, set up personalization centers in all 77 districts and Nepali missions abroad, and supply and distribute passports by the end of December. The contract with the French company IDEMIA, which had previously won the contract, was valid only until December.

After IDEMIA’s contract, which has been providing biometric passports to Nepal since November 2021, expired in December, it was decided that the German companies would start supplying only after March. IDEMIA had also filed a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the contract given to the German companies. The Prime Minister's Office began to show interest about two months ago in the progress made in the supply of passports and the state of the passport stock.

According to an official in the Prime Minister's Office, the office had sent a technical team to the passport department and started an internal investigation. 'We found many irregularities in the procurement process and uncertainty about the supply of passports,' the official in the Prime Minister's Office said, 'The stock was rapidly decreasing, it was only enough for about three weeks.'

Officials have said that there is a potential passport crisis with the old contract with the French company having expired and the new German companies also failing to start supplies. ‘We immediately raised this issue with Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal,’ said the official from the Prime Minister’s Office on condition of anonymity. ‘As a continuation of that, we have also discussed it with the CIAA.’

The Passport Department had awarded two separate contracts worth Rs 6.15 billion and Rs 1.6 billion to German companies Veridos and Muehlbauer for passport printing and biometrics, totaling Rs 7.75 billion. Veridos won the Rs 6.15 billion contract for passport printing, and Siddharth Thapa worked as its Nepal agent. Muehlbauer, also from Germany, won the Rs 1.6 billion contract for biometrics. Its Nepal agent is Manindra Raj Malla.

The German company and a source close to Thapa, however, gave a different explanation as to why the passport distribution was delayed, stating that former Prime Minister Sushila Karki had ordered additional passports. कार्कीको पालामा प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयकै चासोमा अघिल्लो ठेकेदार आइडिमियासँग भेरियसन अर्डर मार्फत ७ लाख राहदानी अर्डर गरिएको थियो । जसले गर्दा नयाँ जर्मन कम्पनीहरूको काम सुरु गर्ने मिति पछाडि धकेलिएको दाबी गरेको छ । ‘नयाँ ठेकेदारहरूले समयमै काम पूरा गर्न सकेनन् भन्ने आरोप भ्रमपूर्ण र मनगढन्ते हो,’ जर्मन कम्पनी निकट स्रोतको दाबी छ ।

राहदानी खरिद अनियमितताको अनुसन्धान दायरामा पूर्वपरराष्ट्रमन्त्री राणा

सोमबारको घटनाले कूटनीतिक क्षेत्रमा समेत प्रभाव पारेको छ । स्रोतहरूका अनुसार, जर्मन राजदूतले सोमबार प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयमा भएको घटनाको सम्बन्धमा परराष्ट्रमन्त्री शिशिर खनाललाई भेटेर जानकारी गराउने कूटनीतिक समुदायका अधिकारीहरूलाई उल्लेख गरेका छन् । शुक्रबार साँझसम्म भोल्जले खनालसँग भेटघाटका लागि अनुरोध गरे पनि समय पाएका छैनन् । काठमाडौँस्थित जर्मन दूतावासले यस विषयमा टिप्पणी गर्न अस्वीकार गर्‍यो । कान्तिपुरको प्रश्नमा दूतावासले जवाफ लेख्यो, ‘दूतावासले यस विषयमा उपयुक्त ठानेको अवस्थामा मात्र आफ्नो धारणा सार्वजनिक गर्नेछ । हालका लागि यस मामिलामा थप टिप्पणी गर्न चाहँदैन ।’ 

शुक्रबार दिउँसो जर्मन राजदूत उडो भोल्जले सामाजिक सञ्जाल एक्समा भने लेखेका छन् । ‘नेपालका विभिन्न सञ्चारमाध्यमहरूले प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयमा भएको मेरो हालैको भ्रमणबारे विभिन्न तरिकाले समाचार प्रकाशित गरेका छन् । म स्पष्ट पार्न चाहन्छु कि न त मैले व्यक्तिगत रूपमा न त जर्मन दूतावासले यस विषयमा पत्रकारहरूसँग कुनै जानकारी आदानप्रदान गरेका छौं, न त यस सम्बन्धमा कुनै समाचार प्रकाशन गर्न अनुमति दिएका छौं ।’

भोल्जसँगै नेपालका लागि भेरिडोसका स्थानीय प्रतिनिधि सिद्धार्थ थापा पनि प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालय गएका थिए । स्रोतहरूका अनुसार भोल्जलाई राहदानी सम्झौता र भेरिडोसमाथि हुन लागेको सम्भावित छानबिनबारे सचेत गराइएको थियो र थापाले नै उनलाई त्यहाँ लगेका थिए । भेरिडोस कम्पनीसम्बद्ध स्रोतका अनुसार थापालाई अर्कै बहानामा जर्मन इन्जिनियरहरूसहित परियोजना कार्यान्वयन योजनाबारे छलफल गर्न प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयमा बोलाइएको थियो । त्यसै दिन साँझ मात्रै प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयका एक सल्लाहकारले थापालाई अनुसन्धान भइरहेको र अख्तियारका अधिकारीहरू उपस्थित भई बयान लिइरहेको जानकारी दिएका थिए । तर थापा अहिलेसम्म अख्तियारको सम्पर्कमा आएका छैनन् भने प्रहरीको केन्द्रीय अनुसन्धान ब्यूरो (सीआईबी) लाई खोजी गरिदिन अनुरोध गरिएको छ ।

यो ठेक्काको सुरुवातदेखि नै विवाद रहँदै आएको छ । बोलपत्र (टेन्डर) हारेपछि आइडेमियाले प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालयमा उजुरी दर्ता गरेको थियो र पछि २३ जुलाई २०२५ मा सर्वोच्च अदालतमा राहदानी विभागको खरिद प्रक्रियामा गम्भीर अनियमितता भएको आरोप लगाउँदै रिट निवेदन दायर गरेको थियो । जसमा प्राविधिक आवश्यकताहरूको मूल्यांकन गर्दा उल्लङ्घन भएको, विदेशी विनिमय दरको गलत गणना गरिएको र योग्य बोलपत्रदातालाई बेवास्ता गरिएको जस्ता आरोपहरू थिए । सर्वोच्च अदालतले अन्तरिम आदेश दिन अस्वीकार गर्‍यो ।

जर्मन कम्पनीलाई ठेक्का दिने निर्णय बदर गर्न र बोलपत्र प्रक्रियामा पुनरावलोकन गर्न माग गर्दै दायर भएको उक्त रिटमा पछिल्लो पटक २३ जेठ २०८३ मा सर्वोच्च अदालतमा सुनुवाइ गरेको थियो । न्यायाधीशद्वय नृपध्वज निरौला र नित्यानन्द पाण्डेयको इजलासले यो मुद्दालाई असार महिना भित्र पेसी तोकियोस् भन्दै पूर्ण सुनुवाइको लागि पेस गर्न भनेको छ ।

राहदानी विभागका महानिर्देशक र निर्देशकलाई ५ दिन थुनामा राख्न अनुमति 

राहदानी ठेक्का प्रकरणमा पूर्व परराष्ट्रमन्त्री नारायणकाजी श्रेष्ठ र आरजु देउवा राणा पनि अनुसन्धानको दायरामा परेका छन्।  कान्तिपुरको सम्पर्कमा आएको भेरिडोसको स्रोतले नेपालको सार्वजनिक खरिद कानुनको पूर्ण पालना गरेर राहदानीको टेन्डर प्रक्रियामा सहभागी भएको दाबी गर्दै आइडेमियाको उजुरीको समय र नियतमाथि प्रश्न उठाए । हरेक बिडिङको प्रक्रियामा सरोकारवालाहरूलाई प्रश्न सोध्ने अधिकार हुने, त्यतिबेला आइडेमियाले कुनै उजुरी नगरेको र प्राविधिक बोलपत्रहरू खोलिएपछि पनि कम्पनीले कुनै विरोध नगरेको जर्मन कम्पनीनिकट स्रोतको भनाई छ । कम्पनी निकट एक अधिकारीका अनुसार आर्थिक बोलपत्र खोलिएपछि र आइडेमियाले ठेक्का नपाउने निश्चित भएपछि विभिन्न आरोपहरू लगाउदै मुद्दामामिला गर्न थालेको हो ।

कान्तिपुरको सम्पर्कमा आएको भेरिडोस स्रोतले आइडिमियाले आरोप लगाएजस्तो राजनीतिक साँठगाठ नभएको भन्दै खण्डन गरेको छ । भेरिडोसले बोलपत्रको तयारीका लागि राहदानी विभागलाई प्राविधिक विवरण वा अनुमानित लागत पहिले नै उपलब्ध गराउन अस्वीकार गरेको समेत जनाएको छ । कम्पनीले टेन्डरमा भाग लिने निर्णय गरेमा स्वार्थबाझिने स्थिति नआओस् भनेर अस्वीकार गरेको भेरिडोस स्रोतको दाबी छ ।

कान्तिपुरलाई प्राप्त  इमेलमा भेरिडोसका एक अधिकारीले राहदानी विभागका महानिर्देशक अर्याललाई सोही कारणले गर्दा कम्पनीले प्राविधिक विवरण वा सम्भावित मूल्यहरू नखुलाएको लेखेका छन् । सोही इमेलमा, भेरिडोसका अधिकारीले अर्याललाई बोलपत्रलाई दुई अलगअलग भागमा विभाजन गर्न समेत अनुरोध गरेका थिए । जसले गर्दा आइडेमियाले तुलनात्मक लाभ प्राप्त गर्न नसकोस् ।

यो इमेललाई दुई तरिकाले बुझ्न सकिन्छ : पहिलो, भेरिडोसले बोलपत्र प्रक्रियाको निष्पक्षता जोगाउन सुरुदेखि इमानदारीपूर्वक काम गरिरहेको थियो । दोस्रो, मूल्य विवरण अस्वीकार गरे तापनि कम्पनीले आफू सहभागी हुन लागेको खरिद प्रक्रियालाई कसरी तय गर्ने भन्नेबारे विभागलाई पहिले नै सुझाव दिएको देखिन्छ ।

राहदानी खरिद प्रकरणमा मंगलबार नै पूर्वपरराष्ट्रमन्त्री आरजु राणा देउवाविरुद्ध जेनजी आन्दोलनमा जलेको बुढानीलकण्ठस्थित घरमा सूचना टाँस गरी तीन दिनभित्र उपस्थित हुन निर्देशन दिइयो । त्यसको जवाफ बिहीबार अख्तियारको इमेलमा पठाउँदै आरजुले ‘आफू उपचारका क्रममा विदेशमा रहेको र अहिले उपचारकै क्रममा भएकोले बयानमा उपस्थित हुन नसक्ने’ व्यहोरासहित जवाफ पठाएकी छन् । अख्तियार स्रोतका अनुसार राहदानी खरिदसम्बन्धी अनियमितता प्रकरणमा उनीसहित परराष्ट्र र अर्थसहित खरिद समिति र प्रक्रियामा रहेर काम गर्ने कर्मचारीदेखि उच्च पदस्थ अधिकारीसमेत अनुसन्धानमा तानिएका छन् ।