KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 11
A confidential complaint filed with Nepal's anti-corruption agency accuses the French identity solutions giant IDEMIA SAS of secretly routing payments to Nepali brokers through foreign bank accounts to win multimillion-dollar government contracts - transactions that appear to violate Nepal's anti-corruption and money laundering laws.
The complaint, registered at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on July 28, 2025, names IDEMIA - formerly known as Oberthur Technologies - and its local intermediary, Siddhartha Raj Pandey, as central figures in a network of offshore payments and undisclosed commissions tied to Nepal's passport, driver's license, and vehicle registration projects.
The allegations strike at the heart of Nepal's fragile procurement system, long plagued by opacity, political interference, and broker-led bidding. They also come as the country remains on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List - an international watchlist for nations that fail to curb money laundering and terror financing.
Payments routed through Hong Kong and Singapore
According to documents reviewed by investigators, Oberthur Technologies paid US$132,210 in "commission fees" to Regent City Fareast Ltd, a Hong Kong–based company, in connection with Nepal's Machine Readable Passport (MRP) project.
The payment, routed through the Bank of New York to account number 803-3155-426 at Wing Hang Bank Ltd in Hong Kong, explicitly referenced contract ICB MoFA 02/066.67 for the "Security Printing, Supply & Delivery, Installation and Personalization of Machine Readable Passports."
Further records show that Oberthur also entered into an agreement with Capital Biz Solutions Pte Ltd, a Singapore-registered company directed by Mr. Pandey - a Nepali national and the son of prominent hotelier Kishor Raj Pandey.
Corporate filings on Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) website confirm that Capital Biz Solutions Pte Ltd was incorporated on October 12, 2012 and remains an active, "live" company as of 2025. The firm held its last annual general meeting on March 31, 2025, and is registered at 12 Woodlands Square, #12-61, Woods Square, Singapore.
Documents show Siddhartha Raj Pandey has served as a director since October 15, 2012. The company's secretary is Chen Ru, a Singapore citizen, while Liew Renhao Brandem, also Singaporean, is listed as the mandatory local director.
The company's paid-up capital is reported at US$1,000, divided into five equal shares of US$200 each, held by five Nepali nationals - including Mr. Pandey - each owning 20 percent of the firm.
Investigators say Capital Biz Solutions received payments not only from IDEMIA but also from Tiger IT, a Bangladeshi company linked to Nepal's embossed number plate project. These payments were allegedly made for Mr. Pandey's role in securing the controversial contract.
Capital Biz Solutions also featured in the driver's license project, awarded to the French firm SELP, founded by a former Oberthur employee. SELP won the contract as the sole qualified bidder, supplying licenses at $2 per card - significantly higher than the $1.25 per card charged later by Germany's Muehlbauer supplied two years later.
In the electronic passport (e-MRTD) project, IDEMIA initially won a competitive tender in 2020 to supply two million passports. However, it later obtained a direct variation order for an additional 3.1 million passports, bypassing competitive bidding. IDEMIA has been DoP's vendor for the last sixteen years and its controversial monopoly ended this year when two German firms outbeat IDEMIA through a competitive process by offering a rate One Hundred and Fifty crores cheaper to IDEMIA's offer.
The Auditor General's Report (2024) questioned why IDEMIA charged the same system price of $10.13 per booklet even though it delivered only the physical passport books not the enrollment system and personalization machine.
Violations under Nepali law
Under Nepal's Public Procurement Act, bidders must declare all agents and commissions during tender submissions. Failure to disclose constitutes grounds for disqualification and can amount to fraud.The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act bars Nepali citizens from maintaining undeclared foreign bank accounts or receiving payments abroad without prior approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
Such transactions are treated as illegal foreign exchange dealings.Payments routed through offshore firms like Capital Biz Solutions without disclosure can also fall under the Money Laundering Prevention Act (2008), which criminalizes the concealment of fund origins and the use of shell companies.
A watchdog state under strain
"Nepal's FATF status reflects precisely these vulnerabilities - unmonitored foreign payments, undisclosed intermediaries, and politically protected contracts," said a senior watchdog activist familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the security situation in the country remains volatile.
Citizens, meanwhile, have borne the cost. Chronic shortages of passports and driver's licenses, mounting fees for essential documents, and costly technology rollouts have all stemmed from opaque procurement deals benefiting brokers and foreign suppliers.
"The public ends up paying twice - once through taxes and again through inflated service fees," said a Kathmandu-based anti-corruption activist.
The IDEMIA case mirrors a growing pattern across South and Southeast Asia, where Western technology firms have relied on politically connected local partners to navigate opaque procurement systems.
For Nepal - a country still struggling to build institutional integrity after decades of instability - the allegations serve as a stark reminder that corruption is rarely hidden in plain sight. It is often embedded, quietly, in the paperwork of government contracts.
