Dawa, who is currently in prison awaiting trial in the gold smuggling case, has been convicted by the Kavrepalanchok District Court.
Judge Matriprasad Acharya of the Kavre District Court found Dawa, a Chinese-origin Belgian citizen involved in gold smuggling, guilty of obtaining Nepali citizenship and a passport using false information.
He was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined NPR 100,000 for the citizenship-related case, and 3 years in prison with an additional fine of NPR 30,000 for the passport-related case.
Similarly, Raju Gurung of Chitwan and government employee Jhupendraraj Kharel were each sentenced to 1 year and 1 month in prison and fined NPR 15,000 for providing and acquiring dual passports using false information, according to court official Karnabahadur Rai.
Dawa, who also holds Belgian citizenship, had acquired a Nepali citizenship under the name Nima Tamang from Kavrepalanchok district. However, in the citizenship-related case, the court sentenced Raju Gurung, and government employees Jhupendraraj Kharel and Ramchandra Aryal each to a fine of NPR 15,000. Raju’s father, Haribhakta Gurung, who had shown the place to acquire the fake citizenship, was acquitted.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police Headquarters in Maharajgunj had filed a case against officials Kharel and Aryal, as well as Dawa Chhiring and Raju Gurung, for using and facilitating false information to obtain dual citizenship and passports through Kavre District Administration Office.
The case was officially filed at Kavre District Court on 7th Jestha 2081. The officials Kharel and Aryal were arrested for a second time on charges of facilitating the sale of citizenship and passports to Dawa and Raju. However, the High Court later released them on bail.
On 17th Baisakh, the District Court declared them guilty, and a hearing to determine their sentence was scheduled for 23rd Baisakh.
Dawa had prepared the fake citizenship under the name Nima Tamang with the address Namobuddha–11, on 20th Poush 2074 through collusion with Kavre District Administration Office staff. He then used that same citizenship to acquire a passport on 11th Magh 2074.
His Nepali citizenship lists his birthdate as 15th Baisakh 2041, while his Belgian passport states 3rd Chaitra 2040 as his birthdate.
After Dawa was arrested in connection with the gold smuggling case, the police investigation uncovered that he had acquired Nepali citizenship from Kavre.
