Kathmandu, November 1
The Department of Foreign Employment has issued a 35-day notice asking individuals who have long been evading arrest warrants and remaining out of contact to come forward.
The department issued the notice after obtaining permission from the Foreign Employment Tribunal, asking those absconding in foreign employment-related cases to contact the authorities.
However, the exact number of people against whom arrest warrants have been issued and who are still at large remains unknown. According to the department’s estimates, more than 30,000 foreign employment-related cases are currently pending.
The department’s notice has raised questions about how many accused individuals are absconding after arrest warrants were issued against them. A large number of warrants appear to have been issued, with many of the individuals remaining out of contact for years. The department issued the 35-day notice with the aim of bringing them into contact with the authorities and settling the cases.
The notice issued on Kartik 9 states that legal proceedings, including freezing bank accounts used for financial transactions and travel documents, will be initiated against those who fail to contact the department or Nepal Police within 35 days.
However, determining the exact number of people facing arrest warrants will require the department to go through files of old cases. According to a department official, although the number of individuals against whom warrants have been issued is high, there is no systematic record of them.
“Arrest warrants have been issued against many people at different times, but we do not have the exact number. We are currently compiling the records,” the official said. “We have to examine all the old files and are retrieving the details one by one.”
The department said it was not yet in a position to make public the number of absconding accused against whom arrest warrants have been issued. It plans to release an exact figure after completing the ongoing process of organising case records.
More than 30,000 cases, but number of accused still unclear
Department officials said they were also working to establish the exact number of foreign employment fraud cases. Preliminary records show between 28,000 and 30,000 cases, but this is not the final figure.
“While reviewing the records, we have already found 28,000 to 30,000 cases, but this is not the final number either,” a department official said.
The official said around 40 new cases were registered at the department every day. More than half of the accused in these newly registered cases are issued arrest warrants, according to the official.
With new cases continuing to pile up and records of individuals facing arrest warrants in older cases remaining poorly organised, determining the actual number of absconding accused has become difficult.
The department is currently prioritising the collection of records of old cases. It said compiling the figures was taking time because officials need to retrieve and organise details of each case, including the date on which an arrest warrant was issued and information about the person concerned.
Old cases being digitised
The Department of Foreign Employment is working to digitise more than 40,000 fraud-related case files dating back to 2064 BS.
The department said it was sorting, organising and arranging case files that had remained piled up for years before entering them into a digital record system.
The department had previously scanned old case files and stored them digitally. However, devices containing the scanned records were destroyed in a fire during the Gen Z movement.
Following the destruction of the devices, the department has had to scan the old case files again and digitise them.
The department had aimed to complete the digitisation and settlement of old cases within the first six months of the current fiscal year. Accordingly, separate staff members have been assigned to the task.
According to department officials, details of around 4,000 to 5,000 cases have been updated so far. However, digitisation involves more than simply entering case details into the system. The entire file, including all relevant information and evidence, must be scanned and stored. This process takes around an hour for each file.
“Once everything is digitised, we will be able to establish the exact number. The process does not involve merely entering details; the entire file has to be scanned,” the official said.
Amendment to Act proposed to reduce case backlog
Foreign employment fraud cases have remained pending at the department for years. The large number of cases has also made it difficult to ensure effective investigations and judicial proceedings.
In view of this, the government has moved forward with a proposal to amend the Foreign Employment Act, 2064 BS. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has proposed amending the law to allow Nepal Police to investigate complaints of individual fraud, while prosecution and adjudication would be handled by district courts.
The proposed amendment aims to reduce the backlog of thousands of pending cases and bring individual fraud cases under the regular criminal justice system.
The department has also developed a complaint and case management system. Labour Minister Ramjee Yadav inaugurated the system in Shrawan.
The system allows complaints related to foreign employment fraud to be filed online. Complainants can register their cases online along with the necessary evidence, following which the department can initiate action based on the submitted documents.
However, despite the provision allowing new complaints to be registered online, the department is still struggling to determine the number of people facing arrest warrants because records of older cases remain disorganised.
The department said it would be able to make public the number of individuals against whom arrest warrants have been issued, along with the actual status of the cases, once the digitisation of old case files is completed.
