Nepal Supreme Court Rules Ex-PM Too ‘Too Poor’ to Launder Money, Drops Arrest Warrant

Justices question how a man who allegedly laundered millions could only afford a 1998 Maruti.

KATHMANDU—In a landmark ruling that has left anti-corruption activists scratching their heads and laughing through tears, Nepal’s Supreme Court has barred the arrest of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, ruling that the money laundering case against them is “structurally unsound” because the alleged proceeds are “nowhere to be found, except in a vague ledger that looks like it was written by a sleepy intern.”

The two-judge bench—Justice Mahesh Sharma Paudel and Justice Nityananda Pandey, who reportedly spent the hearing doodling tiny question marks on their notepads—questioned the Kathmandu District Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant. “We asked the prosecution: if Mr. Deuba laundered ₹50 crore through a Kathmandu beauty parlor, why does he still drive a 1998 Maruti 800 with a missing hubcap?” Justice Paudel was heard saying during the closed-door hearing. “The logic doesn’t add up. Either he’s the world’s worst money launderer, or he’s just a normal politician who happens to own a lot of unexplained gold. And in this economy, who doesn’t?”

Deuba’s lawyer, Prakash Sharma, argued that his client’s wealth was “entirely legitimate” and derived from “decades of public service, wise investments in goat farming, and a small inheritance from a distant uncle who may or may not have been a warlord.” He added: “Mr. Deuba has always been transparent about his finances. In fact, he voluntarily disclosed all his accounts to the tax department in 2005—by accident, while filing a complaint about a corrupt neighbor.”

Editor’s note: Kevin, our exhausted editor who once spent three weeks covering a parliamentary budget session, forwarded this story with a single comment: “So the Supreme Court is now the nation’s best comedy troupe. Next, they’ll rule that bribery is just ‘cultural gift-giving’ and that the only crime is not inviting the judges to the party.” He has not been seen since.

Meanwhile, anti-corruption watchdog Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC) issued a statement calling the ruling “a tragicomedy where the punchline is the erasure of the rule of law.” The group’s chair, Ram Tamang, added: “The Deuba case was supposed to be a simple question: did the former PM and his wife funnel government funds into a series of shell companies named after their cats? Now the Supreme Court says we can’t even ask that question because the cats might be traumatized.”

The case now returns to the district court, which must decide whether to reissue the warrant or join the Supreme Court in laughing awkwardly at the situation. Legal experts predict that the next hearing will focus on whether the alleged money was actually “laundered” or merely “misplaced” during a particularly confusing renaming of the family’s chai stall. Deuba himself declined to comment, but his wife was overheard saying: “If we were really laundering money, do you think we’d still live in the same house we built in 1992? Please. Real money launderers have villas in the Maldives. We have a leaky roof.”

Ispirato da: Nepal Supreme Court bars arrest of ex-PM Deuba and wife in money laundering case, questioning the arrest warrant's validity.

Categoria: Politica

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