Kathmandu, May 23: The concerned authorities have not clarified that the Immigration Office at Tribhuwan International airport is collecting bribe in the names of the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and the Commission for the Investigation on Abuse of Authority. For years, despite the staff there collecting money from those Nepalis visiting foreign countries on a visit visa to work illegally, claiming it should reach the Prime Minister and Home Minister, there has been no control over it.
Neither the Prime Minister's Office nor the Ministry of Home Affairs takes initiative to stop human trafficking from the Immigration Office. The Home Ministry repeatedly sends the same individuals there. Specifically, the Home Minister and his secretariat decide who to send to the Immigration Office and the airport's Immigration Office.
To go an assignment to the airport immigration office, they have to pay the rate set according to their rank in the minister's secretariat. "Only if they agree to the rate prepared by some employees in the minister's secretariat can they go to the immigration office," said a Home Ministry employee. According to those employees, the personal secretaries and staff from the political level in the Home Minister's secretariat negotiate.
According to sources, some employees in the Personnel Administration Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs collect money and deploy staff to the immigration office. If one does not negotiate with the personnel in the Personnel Administration Division, it becomes difficult to get transferred to the airport immigration. The airport immigration office has employees from the National Investigation Department.
The Armed Police and Nepal Police have also deployed intelligence personnel at the airport. Previously, a team from the Nepal Police dealing with human trafficking was stationed there, but it has since been removed. Instead of stopping human trafficking from the airport immigration office, it has been increasing day by day. Security officials say they don't even look towards immigration. "Those wearing red hats, blue hats, and yellow hats, and moving in groups, are all part of the setup," they say.
The employees of the immigration office do not even heed the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Some employees come there on the CIAA's payroll. When it comes to the CIAA, some even dismiss it by saying that the Chief Commissioner Prem Rai's case is in the Supreme Court. The employees say that this is the current situation.
Regarding this matter, the Director General of the Immigration Department, Govinda Rizal, claimed that the current incident is personal and stated that it is not appropriate to comment until the investigation by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is complete. "The department is continuously working to improve immigration offices. If there is an issue with an individual, the department or ministry is not responsible," he said.

Currently, sources claim that the secretariat of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak is involved in setting up. It is alleged that the employees in the secretariat and the individuals in the personal secretariat are involved in setting up visit visas. Ganesh Ojha, who is in the secretariat, has come to prominence through the influence of active individuals in the Congress-led secretariat. It is seen in the records of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that he was implicated in a corruption case when he was the Chief Administrative Officer of Mohanyal Rural Municipality in Kailali.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case against the village municipality's chairperson, executive members, chief administrative officer, and contractors for illegally granting a tax exemption of 5,418,000 rupees through an executive decision for the excavation and sale of stones, gravel, and sand in the fiscal year 2074/75. The CIAA had filed the case after confirming the illegal tax exemption granted through an executive decision.
The then Chief Administrative Officer Ojha was accused by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) of not collecting the cash amount as per the agreement during the first installment and signing the contract with the contractor. That same person is now serving as a facilitator in Minister Lekhraj Bhatta's secretariat. His case is still under consideration in the Supreme Court.
The accused, who set up a scheme to send people abroad on visit visas using fake documents, are in the secretariat of Home Minister Lekhraj Bhatta. When then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha conducted operations on visit visa setups at the Tribhuvan International Airport immigration office, the officer involved, Bimal Poudel, is another key figure.
In the operation conducted by the Nepal Police, members of the gang, including the then branch officer Narbir Khadka, were arrested. The then immigration officers Bimal Poudel, Tarabahar Kunwar, Kushal Baral, Shailendra Dhakal, Bikash Dangol, Pitambar Rimala, and Sujan Phago were charged. Among them, Bimal Poudel is currently a key figure in the minister's secretariat. Under his plan and advice, another officer, Ganeshdatt Ojha, has been sending employees to the immigration office. "The officers involved in the visit visa setting are in the minister's secretariat. They are the ones who manipulate the employees in the immigration office. The consequences of this are what he is facing now," said a senior official from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Currently, officer Paudel, who is working in Minister Lekhraj Bhatta's secretariat, was made a fugitive defendant in a case of forgery and organized crime by the police, and a case was filed against him in the Kathmandu District Court. He had secretly appeared in court and was released on bail.
Similarly, Janak Bhatt, a former activist of the Nepal Students' Union, is the personal secretary who facilitates this arrangement. He plays a mediating role in the transfers and postings of immigration, Nepal Police, and Armed Police. It is said that when Minister Lekhak was the Minister of Labor, Bhatt was already making arrangements, and his connections in immigration made it easier. According to Home Ministry officials, the daily bribe transactions of employees at the immigration office, facilitated by them, exceed one and a half crore rupees.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is conducting an investigation at the airport's immigration office, questioning the chief officer, Secretary Tirtharaj Bhattarai. Controversial Secretary Bhattarai was appointed as the chief of the airport immigration office by Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. He was involved in the tarpaulin scandal during the earthquake and was implicated in the controversial national identity card contract when Ravi Lamichhane was the Home Minister. Minister Lekhak appointed him as the chief of the immigration office. The then Secretary Dinesh Bhattarai was removed from his position as the Chief District Officer of Morang.
According to sources from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), employees including Deepak Pandey, Laxmi Bhusal, Durga Thapa, Saroj Khanal, Kamalraj Upadhyay, Shambhu Thagunna, Bishwaraj Aryal, and Prabha Aryal are under high surveillance. Most of them had repeatedly gone to the immigration office. Intermediaries Arun Dahal, Saroj Kumar Yadav, Geeta Shah, and Ganesh Pandey were found guilty. According to sources from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Paudel and Ganesh Ojha plan who gets sent to the immigration office. The source from the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that no one can go to the immigration office without pleasing them.
According to sources, immigration employees have been taking up to 50,000 rupees for going to Gulf countries on visit visas and up to 300,000 rupees for going to European countries. Complaints had been lodged with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that this money was being collected and that it reached everyone from airport employees to the Minister leading the Ministry of Home Affairs. Based on information that organized collection had increased for those going abroad on visit visas, the CIAA conducted an 'undercover operation' to gather evidence of the collusion.
Based on that, a raid was conducted on Wednesday, and the immigration chief Bhattarai and others were taken into custody. Bhattarai's computer, the employees, and the mobile phones of three agents were also confiscated. After the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) learned about the raid preparations, Bhattarai was transferred from immigration to the ministry on Tuesday evening under the direction of Home Minister Lekhraj Bhatta. An officer from Panchthar was transferred to his position.

People’s News Monitoring Service/Nagarik Daily