Correspondence to the Money Laundering Investigation Department from a Hong Kong address via email three days ago and via courier on Monday.
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Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arju Deuba Rana, who left the country for medical treatment before the 21st Falgun elections, have expressed their desire to return to Nepal and urged the government to create a conducive environment for it. It has been revealed that the Deuba couple made such a request by writing to the Money Laundering Investigation Department.
According to sources, the department has received separate letters sent by the Deuba couple via email and courier. An official said that the letters sent via email three days ago and via courier on Monday from a Hong Kong address reached the department.
‘In the letter addressed to the director general of the department, we want to return to Nepal. It has been said that an arrest warrant should be issued against us so that there is no difficulty in entering Nepal. Both of them have their signatures on it,’ the official told Kantipur. ‘The defamatory letter states that an investigation into money laundering is underway. We are innocent. We are ready to cooperate in the investigation. We have not fled the country. We are undergoing treatment. The department has requested that an environment be created for them to return to Nepal.’
The department source said that the Deuba couple had also sent information to the special court regarding the letter. ‘We have requested that an arrest warrant be issued against us and that it be made difficult to enter Nepal by creating a narrative that we have fled the country and were not present during the investigation while being ready to cooperate in good faith,’ the letter said.
Interpol has twice refused to issue a red notice against former Congress president Deuba and his wife Rana, who are being investigated for money laundering. In the second week of Jestha and Baisakh, Interpol had rejected the letter of Nepal Police requesting to issue a notice at the request of the department and sent it back. The department had obtained an arrest warrant against them from the Kathmandu District Court on 24 Chaitra for investigation on money laundering charges. On 11 Jestha, the Supreme Court issued an interim order not to arrest them. The Supreme Court's order stated that the arrest warrant issued by the district court was automatically invalidated, concluding that only the special court has jurisdiction to hear cases investigated by the Money Laundering Investigation Department.
Regarding the letter sent by the Deuba couple, a high-ranking official of the department claimed that there was no obstacle, hindrance or problem for them to return to Nepal. 'Interpol has already refused to issue a red notice. An arrest warrant has not been issued either. There is no problem or obstacle for them to return to Nepal or move around,' the official added. 'We do not consider it necessary to immediately respond to the Deuba family's letter. However, we will discuss it with the investigation officer and decide whether to respond to the letter or not.' Krishna Sharan Lamichhane, deputy registrar and spokesperson of the special court, said that he had not received information about the receipt of such a letter. 'I do not know if they have come to the registry or stayed somewhere. To my knowledge, I do not know if the letter has arrived,' he said.
They were injured in an attack by protesters at their residence in Budhanilkantha on 24 Bhadra and went to Singapore on 10 Kartik for further treatment. At that time, they returned to Nepal on 28 Kartik. Then on 21 Poush, Arju reached Singapore via Delhi, while Deuba left for Singapore in the second week of Falgun. Although it is said that they were seen in Hong Kong from there, it is not yet clear where they are.
Deuba had expressed his dissatisfaction on social media in Chaitra when the arrest warrant was issued against them. He had claimed on Facebook that misleading propaganda was being spread about his and his family's property and that the real property details were in the knowledge of the government agency.
Since the arrest warrant was issued, the department had asked the Nepal Police to issue a red notice since they were abroad. The police had sent a letter to the Interpol Asia Pacific Regional Office in Singapore requesting it to issue a notice. However, Interpol rejected that request. If the notice had been issued, the government had planned for the police to arrest them from abroad and bring them to Nepal.
According to a senior police source, Interpol had refused to issue a notice on both occasions, demanding answers to questions such as under which law and for which offense the Deuba couple is being investigated? How much money has been laundered by the accused? The department had requested to issue a notice on the basis that an investigation is underway on charges of illegally acquiring property and that an arrest warrant has been issued by the district court. However, Interpol did not consider that basis sufficient to issue a red notice.
