Nepal to recall Saudi envoy involved in insurance scandal

Kathmandu: A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (February 1) evening decided to recall Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ansari, who allegedly transferred into his own bank account the insurance claims of more than three Nepali nationals who died in the Gulf country. However, no decision was taken on Nepali Ambassador to India Rukma Shumsher Rana over his dual responsibility as envoy and managing director of Dabur Nepal, minister for law and justice, Prem Bahadur Singh told the Post. 

The decision came after the recommendations of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) recently. Earlier, CIAA and MoFA had separately grilled Ansari and asked him to come clean over his alleged involvement of fund transfer and also why he did not submit the money claimed by the relatives of the deceased. The Parliamentary Committee for International Affairs and Human Rights on January 9 directed the government to probe into Ansari’s alleged involvement in transferring the

compensation amount and recall envoy Rana immediately. Rana was appointed by the ruling CPN-UML in 2007.

The relatives of at least three Nepali nationals who died in Saudi Arabia - one in a car accident and two others while working inside a company - one-and-a-half years ago, had lodged separate complaints at CIAA and MoFA and asked them to take action against the envoy who repeatedly refused to furnish details of the claims that were provided by the insurance companies.

The insurance money, worth over 2.5 million rupees (US$34,387) per deceased, was handed over to Ansari. “The money did not reach the deceased’s kin for over more than a year. We started investigation case taking into consideration the sensitive nature of the case. We suspected the role played by the envoy,” a MoFA official said. The insurance company had dispatched copies of the cheques, which were received by Ansari on behalf of the victims’ kin.