Kathmandu, Jan. 16 -- When Ncell was sold for the 12th time in 2016, some of the country's leading members of parliament, and members of the government and the judiciary were mired in Nepal's biggest tax evasion scandal. Now, an investigation by the Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal shows how the nexus of businessmen, foreign nationals and politicians set up offshore companies and used the country's major mobile network operator to launder black money under foreign direct investment and repatriate the profit to foreign countries and launder the money back.

The investigation reveals that controversial businessman Ajeya Raj Sumargi of Muktishree Group, Birendra Mahato, a former lawmaker and central committee member of the Sanghiya ...