Another lawmaker BP Yadav, who has also been implicated in the scam, appeared before the anti-graft body to record his statements. [break]He, however, did not submit the required documents. He claimed instead that he had submitted the documents to the parliamentary secretariat. The secretariat, however, knows of no such documents.
“They are still trying to evade the probe,” said officials.
The authorities dealing with the red passport scam initially encountered massive political pressure. Investigation, accordingly, was held back for a couple of weeks. “Now there is less pressure, except for that from the lawmakers themselves,” officials said.
CIAA sources said the anti-graft body is planning to take appropriate measures and could even arrest the lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Nepal Police´s investigation has revealed that the lawmakers had applied for visas to Australia purportedly to participate in a program that would least concern them. “Going by their visa notes, the two of them were supposed to participate in a conference on mental illness,” police said. “That was just a pretext to smuggle other persons.”
An invitation for the conference on mental illness was sent by one Ramesh Pandey, a Nepali living in Australia. “The invitation itself turned out to be fake,” officials added.
Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepali Police is lately probing the case while supporting CIAA with its inputs. CIAA had summoned Sah and Yadav for interrogations following CIB´s findings.
It was revealed last week that a person has already been living in Australia using the identity of Shivapujan Raya, a lawmaker from the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF). The fact surfaced after the Australian embassy in Kathmandu wrote to the Nepal Police stating Raya should have been in Australia as per the immigration records.
Five lawmakers, including Sah, Yadav and Raya, have been implicated in the scam.
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