Supreme Court halts arrest of ex-PM Deuba over procedural lapses

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order preventing the arrest of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, raising questions of jurisdiction.

On Monday, a joint bench of Justices Mahesh Sharma Paudel and Nityananda Pandey reviewed the investigation file from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, concluding that the prevailing legal procedures and methods were not followed.

The order questions the arrest warrant issued by the Kathmandu District Court. According to Section 9 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 2074, and Rule 3 of the same regulation, the Supreme Court found that the necessary basis, reasons, specific format, and prescribed procedure were not followed when requesting and issuing the arrest warrant.

The order notes that the legal provision under Section 16(1)(c) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2064, which requires a reasonable basis to believe that the accused might flee or destroy evidence before being detained, was ignored in this case.

The government had issued an ordinance on Baisakh 18, clearly assigning jurisdiction over such cases to the ‘Special Court’. The Supreme Court clarified that the arrest warrant issued by the Kathmandu District Court on 2082.12.24 became automatically ineffective with the change in jurisdiction following the ordinance.

The Supreme Court has determined that, given the current transfer of jurisdiction to the Special Court, arrests cannot be made based on the old and flawed warrant.