Kathmandu, June 5: A plan to build a boundary wall around Nepal government-owned land in Sri Lanka has uncovered a startling fact: most of the property was secretly sold more than three decades ago without Nepal’s knowledge.
Last year, the Nepali Embassy in Colombo requested Rs 3 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to construct a compound wall around a 1.5-acre plot purchased by Nepal in 1989 for a future embassy and ambassador’s residence. The ministry approved the budget, but embassy officials could not locate ownership documents and turned to Colombo’s Land Registry for verification.
What they discovered came as a shock. Of the 1.5 acres owned by Nepal, one acre had already been sold to private individuals, not once but twice. Embassy officials learned of the transfer on June 5, 2025, forcing them to halt the wall construction project and freeze the allocated budget.
Foreign Ministry sources say the land was allegedly sold by Albert Edirisinghe, Nepal’s honorary consul in Sri Lanka at the time. He had been entrusted with overseeing the property and had played a key role in its purchase.
Nepal bought the land, located in Rajagiriya, Colombo, on May 18, 1989, from the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation for $360,000. The Sri Lankan government even granted Nepal tax exemptions for the purchase. The property was intended for an embassy complex and official residence.
The most surprising aspect is that Nepal only discovered the sale 35 years later, despite maintaining an embassy in Colombo since 1995. Several ambassadors and embassy staff served there over the years, yet no one appears to have noticed that part of the property had changed ownership.
The issue came to light only when embassy officials attempted to verify land records before constructing the boundary wall.
A year after learning that state-owned land had been transferred to private ownership, the Foreign Ministry has yet to publicly explain how the transaction occurred or what legal steps, if any, have been taken to recover the property.
Officials say the case raises serious questions about oversight of Nepal’s overseas assets and how government property could be transferred without the state’s knowledge. The ministry has remained largely silent despite the potentially significant loss. The land is now estimated to be worth nearly Rs 1 billion.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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