June 23, 2026
Nepal's former finance minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel was arrested late on Monday on charges of money laundering, police said, as the country's Gen Z-backed government steps up a crackdown on alleged corruption under previous administrations.
Paudel, 66, a senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and a key figure in the former KP Sharma Oli government, was detained at a hotel in western Nepal, police said.
Police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said Paudel was being brought to Kathmandu and would be handed over to the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.
His arrest comes months after Oli's government was toppled following deadly anti-graft protests in which at least 76 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured, with several government buildings, including parliament, set ablaze.
