Kathmandu, Nepal, March 21, 2023: The Office of the Attorney General has given a clean chit to Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane in the case of possession of dual passports.
As RSP Chairman Lamichhane was possessing Nepali and American passports, he was alleged of two passports at the same time going against the law of the land. He was also accused of obtaining a Nepali passport through an invalid citizenship certificate.
Attorney General Dinmani Pokharel on Monday gave a clean chit to RSP Chairman Lamichhane on the basis of the report forwarded by the High Government Attorney's Office, which was forwarded earlier by the District Government Attorney's Office, Kathmandu.
Earlier, Nepali Police had also submitted an investigation report to the District Government Attorney's Office, Kathmandu, stating that there is no need to file a case against Lamichhane for holding dual passports of Nepal and the United States of America (USA).
The police as well as the office of the Attorney General has a conclusion that Lamichhane is not found of misusing the Nepali passport obtained in 2015 while travelling abroad even though he had obtained American passport at the same time.
As the Supreme Court (SC) had decided to scrap Lamichhane’s position as a member of the House of Representatives (HoR) arguing that he did not have a valid Nepali citizenship, the issue of possessing dual passports was also investigated by the police.
With the SC verdict, he had also lost the position as the party chairman. However, he has reinstated in the position after he acquired the citizenship card again following the due procedures.
The decision of the Office of the Attorney General paves the way for Lamichhane to contest the by-election scheduled for April 23 in Chitwan Constituency -2.
