KATHMANDU, MARCH 1
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has filed four different charges against controversial businessman Prithivi Bahadur Shah and 19 other accomplices for swindling US citizens and private enterprises of millions on the pretext of providing different online services.
The CIB, upon completing months-long investigation, has sought recommendation to prosecute the accused in swindling, document forgery, cooperative offences, and organised crimes to Kathmandu District Government Attorney Office. However, only seven out of 20 accused are currently in police custody while 13 are at large. Shah, an unknown figure until early 2022, had suddenly come into the limelight after he became a pivotal character in a row between former finance minister Janardan Sharma and Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari last year.
The Financial Information Unit of the NRB had accused Shah of remitting illegally earned Rs 90 million and had tried to control Shah's financial movements.
This time around, police investigated Shah on the basis of 24 criminal cases filed by his victims, including foreigners like Stephen Russell Farmer, Rajinder S Brar, Irving E Goeschel, David Michael Freeman, Gilbert Gonzalex, Ibrahim Y Jabra, Rafael Donez, Darlene Pedroncelli, Anthony Martucci, Nancy J Eifert, Elvira S Ramirez and Katherine Green. Police have so far identified 56 victims.
Shah's victims were citizens of USA, the UK and Canada, mostly elderly and plagued by old-age related ailments such as Alzheimer and cancer.
Shah, along with his brother Vijay Bikram Shah, had established more than 24 companies with the objective of gaining illegally earned money from overseas into Nepal.
The con artists would contact the foreigners promising to provide effortless online services like anti-virus update and paying the bill of Amazon, Geek squad, quick books, among others.
Police said the accused would then get remote access to the electronic devices of victims who would accept the offer.
The fraudsters would then easily have access to their bank accounts through remote access. They would also have access to email addresses of the victims and write letters to the banks and financial institutes impersonating the victims to validate the transferred amount. Whenever the victims got suspicious about foul play, they would be threatened to pay the price by charging them with money laundering offences if they spoke about it.
The swindlers would also send fake bank statements to the victims and ask them to return the money. "Huge numbers of fake bank statement were sent to the victims while in fact no money was sent in reality. They would then ask the victims to send back the money on various pretexts," said Additional Inspector General Uttam Raj Subedi, chief of CIB. He further said, "The thugs would again blackmail the victims to send more money, saying sending the money abroad without valid reason or undisclosed sources would attract US laws."
A total of USD 2,892,390 was swindleded from 24 victims who filed the police complaint.
Police confirmed that the fraudesters had in fact transferred USD 4,546,639, GBP 22,000 and Canadian Dollar 340,000 through 'Swift' transfer service. Some banks like Kumari Bank Limited, NCC Bank, and Global IME Bank has held around USD 1,560,577 on the suspicion of being illegal. Shah had invested the money in real estate, gold, and shares, and created different companies with the money earned. Shah and his team have also been charged with forging fingerprint and government documents while creating companies to transfer money to Nepal and illegally evading revenue and profit tax while buying land in the valley.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy, issuing a press release today, said the CIB, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and domestic intelligence and security service of the US would continue to jointly investigate this scheme and ensure that the victims recouped their stolen funds worth Rs four million from Nepal.
"In 2021 and throughout 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the US Department of Treasury had apprised Nepal's Financial Intelligence Unit of the potential scheme which conned US citizens into unwittingly transferring money to bank accounts controlled by Prithvi Shah," reads the press release.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 2, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
