A Kathmandu court has convicted two former Nepal ministers and 14 others and sentenced them to jail for allegedly making fake documents. According to court records and lawyers, the documents were allegedly used to help Nepali citizens safely resettle in the United States by misrepresenting them as Bhutanese refugees.Former Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of crimes including fraud, crimes against the state and involvement in organized crime, according to Reuters. Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand received a two-year sentence for his role as an accomplice, a court document revealed.The Kathmandu District Court issued the verdict late Tuesday night. Rayamajhi is currently in custody, while Khand is out on bail. Both the former ministers have denied any involvement in the case.Rayamajhi’s lawyer Dharam Raj Regmi said his client was not involved in decisions related to refugee policy and that he would challenge the decision. “He was never involved in policy making for refugees,” Regmi said. He said an appeal would be filed.Khand’s lawyer Pankaj Karna also confirmed that he will file an appeal against the verdict.The court also convicted 14 other accused, including a former senior official in Nepal’s home ministry and a former leader representing Bhutanese refugees. He was sentenced to up to four years in prison, according to court documents.The investigation into the alleged scam began in 2023, when authorities uncovered claims that Nepali citizens were being misrepresented as Bhutanese refugees to gain access to a US-led third-country resettlement program. It has not been confirmed whether any individuals have achieved resettlement in the US through the alleged scheme.The case relates to the decades-long Bhutanese refugee crisis, during which approximately 120,000 people of Nepali origin left Bhutan for Nepal in the early 1990s following disputes over citizenship, identity and political rights.Under the resettlement initiative launched after Nepal and Bhutan failed to resolve the issue through repatriation talks, about 113,000 Bhutanese refugees were relocated to countries including the US, Canada and Australia. Washington accepted about 100,000 refugees from Nepal, while several thousand remain in camps in eastern Nepal.The court’s decision comes at a time of renewed focus on corruption in Nepal after youth-led protests last year that toppled the previous government.