KATHMANDU: Nepal has issued an arrest warrant for former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for alleged corruption, officials said on Thursday (Apr 9), making him the latest high-profile figure targeted under the new government.
Deuba, 79, is abroad for medical treatment and said that “an investigation on money laundering has been initiated against me and my family”. He rejected the accusation of corruption.
“False propaganda is being spread concerning my family’s property,” he said in a statement on social media.
Authorities also issued a warrant for Deuba’s wife, former foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba, court officials in Kathmandu told AFP, following a request from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.
Deuba said he and his wife were “currently abroad for long-term medical treatment”, without giving further details.
Nepali media reported that the couple was recently in Singapore, and that police are seeking an Interpol notice.
The warrants come a month after Prime Minister Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician, won a landslide election victory on a platform of youth-driven political change, the first elections since a deadly September 2025.
Deuba, who served five terms as prime minister, is a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party.
“My life has been an open book,” he said. “I have spent my entire life striving for the establishment of a democratic system of governance in Nepal.”
His tenure as party president ended in January, after younger members pushed for a leadership change.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/nepal-ex-pm-deuba-arrest-warrant-corruption-6045761
