The government is in doubt whether to distribute the 500,000 new passports supplied by a German company due to the corruption case. The passports supplied by the German company have been left unused due to legal and political uncertainty arising from the corruption case. The Passport Department currently has less than 45,000 passports in stock. 

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed a corruption case against 18 officials, including Director General of the Passport Department Tirtharaj Aryal, and representatives of two German companies - Veridos GmbH and Muehlbauer in Nepal, on June 20 for irregularities in the contract related to the purchase of electronic passports. Since then, problems have been seen in the distribution of passports. 

The government is also hesitant to distribute the passports already supplied by Veridos due to the case. On the other hand, the French company IDEMIA, which has been supplying passports to Nepal since 2010, is preparing to exit Nepal within a few days. With 5,000 to 6,000 passport applications being received daily, the time to find an immediate solution is running out.

As the stock is dwindling, the Passport Department has also reduced the number of passports it distributes daily. According to the department, an average of 6,000 applications are currently being received for passports daily. However, only 3,000 to 3,500 passports are being distributed daily. With the stock dwindling, pressure is increasing on the government to make an immediate decision. ‘The situation is confusing,’ said an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘the government must decide whether to use the passports supplied by Veridos or purchase a few hundred thousand passports from IDEMIA for the time being.’

But neither option is easy for the government. Using passports from a German company means distributing passports supplied by a company embroiled in a corruption case. On the other hand, it will have to re-sign an agreement with IDEMIA, which is currently operating under the name of IN Group. While the company has already informally informed that it will cease its operations in Nepal. According to an official from the Passport Department, the company is expected to make a formal announcement on Monday.

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal had held discussions with the Prime Minister's Office and the Passport Department before returning to Kathmandu from Chitwan, the venue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general convention. He said that German companies have been given about three weeks to fully operationalize the passport production and printing system. "If the German company is unable to prepare the passport production, printing and distribution system within the stipulated time, then we will think about alternative measures," Khanal told Kantipur.

Muehlbauer has already set up personalization centers for passports, while Veridos has already handed over 500,000 passports to the Passport Department. However, more than 100,000 of them will have to be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and various countries as prototypes of the new Nepali passport, so the usable stock will further decrease.

The diplomatic side has also come to join this issue. After the CIAA named the local representative as a defendant, both German companies filed complaints with the German Foreign Ministry. On Thursday, the Deputy Director of the Asia-Pacific Division of the German Foreign Ministry summoned Nepal's acting ambassador to Germany, Sagar Prasad Phuyal, to inquire about the case. The ministry also sought information from the acting ambassador about whether the companies in question would be allowed to appoint lawyers and whether the case would affect the passport purchase agreement.