Thousands of drivers in Australia might be using fake driving licence to be behind the wheels. Nepalese driving licence used by temporary visa holders including international students might be fake. An investigation report released recently on smart driving licence distribution in Nepal suspects roughly 100,000 driving licences obtained illegally. Many of them obtained to use overseas.
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Nepalese media Onlinekhabar reports, there were 73,000 fake Nepalese smart driving licences issued and circulated from different transport offices across Nepal in last five years. And, about 23,000 licences were stopped to distribute after complaint received.
Prime Time HD, a Nepalese language television reports with including another three years data, 102,000 Nepalese smart licences found suspiciously distributed. 30,000 among them were obtained without any tests. In Nepal, to get a driving licence one need to pass written (knowledge) test as well as trial (road) test. Same television includes in its report, many people in jail and celebrities overseas obtained Nepalese driving licence without any test.
No of Fake Nepalese Smart Licence circulated in chronological order [table id=drivinglicense1 /]
Another Nepalese newspaper Nayapatrika Daily has published list of Director Generals with number of fake licences distributed on their time. Its story says 10 Director General gave a go to 66,066 fake smart driving licences.
Some of corrupt officials in department found involved in altering, modifying information in licence data base and now investigation has begun, the director general of the department Uddhav Prasad Rijal was quoted in Nepalese media.
Besides, the Department of Transport Management, Transport Ministry also made separate study on the matter. And department study report forwarded to Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
TV Report on Nepalese Smart Licence issue
NepaliPage, understands hundreds of Nepalese international students are driving in different Australian cities and town using Nepalese smart licences obtained illegally. NepaliPage has talked with some of them driving using Nepalese driving licence how they obtained Nepalese licence while they in Australia. One of them says, ‘it cost me 200,000, but its genuine not like paper one people used to have, you can verify this through Nepal’s department of transport management.’
The one shared his experience under condition of anonymity, said he was involved in an accident while holding Nepalese licence. As his Nepalese licence was not properly obtained, that cost him altogether 60 thousand dollars. ‘I paid whatever another party and their insurance claimed, though there was not my fault,’ he said.
