Kathmandu, March 19
After an investigation of the charge that Rastriya Swatantra Party chairperson Rabi Lamichhane possessed Nepali and US passports at the same time, thereby breaching the national law, the police say he should not be prosecuted.
The Kathmandu District Police Range submitted its report to the District Government Attorey’s Office recommending no action be taken about the case as Lamichhane did not have any ill intention behind possessing dual passports.
The leader is accused of obtaining a Nepali passport based on illegitimate Nepali citizenship in 2015 May. From 2015 until he renounced his US citizenship in 2018, he had passports from two countries; Nepal’s law does not allow this.
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that Rabi Lamichhane’s old citizenship was cancelled when he migrated to the United States and obtained American citizenship, and he could no more use his old Nepali citizenship certificate.
Whereas the verdict had snatched the powerful deputy prime ministerial position from Lamichhane, it had been said that Lamichhane could be barred from contesting any election if he lost the passport case.
“But because he submitted his Nepali passport to the Department of Passports as soon as the Supreme Court ordered that his citizenship was invalid,” a police officer says, “It was found that the documents were not used with any ill intent.”
Likewise, the police conclude claims that Lamichhane submitted fake information to obtain the documents cannot be justified.
According to the police, his activities could not be said to have violated any law in the particular, hence there was no necessity to prosecute him.
