KATHMANDU, July 10: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has uncovered a scam involving fake driving licenses. In the second phase of their investigation, the police found that the licenses obtained by customers by paying between Rs 35,000 and Rs 100,000 were all fake licenses.
A report submitted by the CIB to the Kathmandu District Court through the District Public Prosecutor’s Office after completing the second phase of investigation states that all the licenses obtained by service seekers paying between Rs 35,000 and Rs 100,000 were counterfeit licenses. The CIB is grilling the computer staff of the Transport Management Office who are suspected of issuing fake licenses in exchange for money.
The police failed to investigate the Director General of the Department of Transport Management, who turned a blind eye to the irregularities in license distribution, even in the second stage. The police claim that the corrupt government officials collected more than Rs 10 billion by distributing fake licenses. Middlemen, employees, and other parties were also involved in the distribution of fake licenses. According to the CIB, a step-by-step investigation is underway to bring everyone involved in this business under the ambit of law.
According to the investigation report filed by the public prosecutor in the Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday, service seekers allegedly paid amounts ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 100,000 to transport office staff. The report states that 102,000 fake licenses were distributed but only 28,000 of them were entered into the computer system.
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According to police, they have not been able to file a charge sheet against Saroj Pandey and Som Thapa alias Ever, who played the role of middlemen to issue fake licenses allegedly colluding with staff from the Transport Management Office, as their real name, surname and nationality are yet to be ascertained by the police.
The CIB stated that Under Secretary Keshav Aryal, Officer Laxman Pandey, Padmaraj Acharya, Subas Paudel, Ramkrishna Shrestha, Dilip Kumar Sah, Rajesh Lamsal, Binod Bhandari, Bibek Bhandari, Narayan Prasad Pandey, Gyan Raj Pandey and others misused their position for financial gain.
The CIB revealed that fake licenses were distributed by unauthorized entry of false details into the Transport Management Department's system as official government records. The CIB has requested the Commission of the Investigation of Abuse of Authority to investigate these actions as corruption, particularly the issuance of fake licenses in the names of Shakti Bir Khatri, Harsh Bahadur Sinjali, Purushottam Pokharel, and others, who allegedly paid up to Rs 100,000 each. Additionally, the CIB has recommended canceling thousands of fake licenses issued under these names.
According to the CIB's investigation, employees of the Transport Management Office have been collecting illicit payments through operators of driving centers established for trials. The investigation revealed that most of these driving centers are being used by employees as intermediaries.
According to the report submitted to the court by the Public Prosecutor's Office, Kathmandu, it was found that Under Secretary Keshav Aryal, Officer Laxman Pandey, Padmaraj Acharya, and Gyanraj Pandey entered details of individuals and licenses into the Transport Management Office's system under fictitious old dates. Similarly, Subas Paudel and Narayan Prasad Pandey from the Transport Management Office in Butwal, Dilip Kumar Sah from Janakpur, Rajesh Lamsal from Chitwan, Bibek Bhandari from Jhapa, Binod Bhandari from Kaski, and Ramakrishna Shrestha from Kawasoti were mentioned in the report for distributing fake licenses by systematically entering people's biometric data (fingerprints, photos, signatures).
The investigation revealed that this scheme involved a network of employees from various transport management offices across the country, who collaborated to distribute fake licenses.
The CIB said that the investigation into the fake license distribution case is ongoing. "Further investigation will be conducted on forgery, as some people involved in the process of issuing fake licenses are absconding. Further investigation will be conducted after they are arrested," said CIB spokesperson SP Hobindra Bogati. According to him, it has been found that fake licenses were issued after charging large sums of money from service seekers such as Jhawilal Bhandari, Roshan Pandey, Uday Bahadur BK, Ganesh Bahadur Chhetri, Mohan Prasad Koirala, and Rajkumar Shrestha.
The investigation report revealed that Jhawilal paid Rs 35,000, Roshan paid Rs 50,000, and Udaya paid Rs 100,000 for their fake licenses. The CIB also claims that Chhiring Tamang paid Rs 45,000 to Under Secretary Aryal's group to obtain a license. The investigation showed that this group distributed fake licenses by manipulating records in the transport office while converting paper card licenses, issued before the implementation of Electronic Driving License (EDL), into EDLs.
The CIB initiated the investigation into the fake license case upon request from the Department of Transport Management. It was found that over 100,000 fake licenses were distributed due to the misconduct of the Director Generals who led the department since 2072 BS. The report, investigated by the department, mentioned that more than one hundred thousand smart licenses had been issued illegally since 2072 BS.
An employee of the department said, "Not millions, but billions of rupees are involved in the irregular distribution of licenses." Earlier, the CIB had arrested Suraj Prakash Aryal, Harish Bhatt, Pradeep Sunuwar, Milan Bastola, Birjukumar Chaudhary, Basanta Pandey, Ganesh Bhandari, Deepa Neupane, and others for their alleged involvement in the cartel. They have been released on bail.
