- German Ambassador Udo Volz denied authorizing media reports about his PMO visit or speaking to journalists regarding alleged mistreatment.
- News outlets reported Volz faced undignified behavior from PM Balen Shah's aides during a meeting about a German e-passport contract.
- The reports also alleged the PMO detained CIAA officials for nine hours to pressure them into issuing arrest warrants.
- The German Embassy has distanced itself from the reports, while the Prime Minister’s Office remains silent on the controversy.
Kathmandu, Nepal: German Ambassador to Nepal Udo Volz on Friday denied speaking to the press or authorizing any media reports regarding his recent visit to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), amid a growing controversy over the alleged mistreatment of foreign diplomats and anti-corruption officials by the prime minister’s staff.
The clarification follows a report by a Nepali news outlet alleging that Ambassador Volz was subjected to "undignified language and behavior" by aides to Prime Minister Balen Shah during a Monday morning meeting at the PMO. The dispute reportedly centered around a government e-passport contract awarded to a German firm.
“Media outlets in Nepal have been reporting about my recent visit to the PMO in various forms and manners,” Ambassador Volz stated in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter. “I would like to underline that neither I personally nor the German Embassy have had any exchanges with journalists on this and have not authorised any publication in this respect.”
The local media report also carried severe domestic implications, claiming that following Ambassador Volz's departure, senior officials from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)—including Chief Commissioner Prem Rai—were detained at the PMO for nine hours. The report alleged that the Prime Minister's advisors pressured the CIAA leadership to issue immediate arrest warrants for Department of Passport officials over suspected irregularities in the German contract.
While the ambassador’s statement effectively distances the German diplomatic mission from the unfolding political controversy, the Prime Minister’s Office has yet to issue an official statement addressing either the alleged mistreatment of the diplomat or the reported coercion of anti-corruption officials.
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