White Collar Crime
White Collar Crime
White collar crime is, at its core, business crime — financial wrongdoing committed through deceit, breach of trust, or abuse of position rather than force. At Bhandari Law and Partners, we've built a team that understands both sides of this: the criminal law that applies, and the way business actually operates, which is what makes these cases so different from ordinary criminal matters.
Most of our work here means dealing directly with the agencies that have the power to investigate and prosecute the business community — the CIAA, Nepal Police, and the courts that hear these cases. We're regularly regarded as one of the go-to firms in Nepal for white collar crime work, and that's largely because we know how these investigations actually unfold, not just how the statutes read.
The Legal Framework
White collar offences in Nepal are prosecuted under a mix of laws. The National Penal Code, 2017 covers fraud, forgery, and general financial misconduct. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059 (2002) deals specifically with bribery and abuse of public office. Where money laundering is alleged, the Asset (Money) Laundering Prevention Act comes into play, alongside banking and financial sector regulations. Cases involving public officials or misuse of state authority are typically investigated by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and heard before the Special Court, while other financial crimes may go through the District Courts or Nepal Police's own investigative channels.
What makes these cases hard isn't usually the law itself — it's the evidence. White collar matters live or die on financial records, corporate transactions, and paper trails that take real work to untangle, and intent has to be proven, not assumed.
What We Handle
Bhandari Law represents clients in some of the more serious matters that come up in this space — bribery, corruption, conflicts of interest, financial statement fraud, sanctions from multilateral development banks, and other irregularities that can carry consequences across contract law, criminal law, tax, and public law all at once. These cases rarely stay in one lane, and we treat them that way.
Before a matter ever reaches a courtroom, we often start with an internal audit — going through a client's records and processes to understand where the exposure actually is, then advising on how to reduce it. If the matter does end up in litigation, we represent clients before the courts and before quasi-judicial authorities like the CIAA.
Our Approach
We try to keep representation practical and proportionate to what's actually at stake. Clients facing white collar allegations are usually looking at both civil and criminal exposure at the same time, and the two don't always call for the same strategy — so we work through both together rather than treating them separately. Our aim is straightforward: solid, well-prepared representation that doesn't run up costs unnecessarily.
Thahar Bahadur Bhandari leads our white collar crime work and is recognized as one of Nepal's experienced criminal lawyers, representing clients through investigation, trial, and appeal.
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