Years After License Revocation, Official with Fake Certificate Lands UNDP Role

Kathmandu, Nepal — A high-ranking official with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nepal, Gajananda Prakash Bhandari, has been found to be working under the auspices of a forged Intermediate in Science (I. Sc.) certificate, reigniting concerns about the integrity of high-profile appointments within international organizations and local government oversight.

Mr. Bhandari, currently serving as the Program and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the Global Fund project under UNDP Nepal, was initially investigated a decade ago as part of a widespread police probe into fraudulent medical degrees, known as “Operation Quack.”

In 2015, Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) launched an extensive inquiry to identify medical practitioners who had obtained their MBBS degrees using counterfeit documents. During this investigation, it was definitively discovered that Mr. Bhandari’s I.Sc. certificate, purportedly issued by the Bihar Intermediate Education Council (BIEC) in Patna, India, was fake. The I.Sc. certificate (Roll No. 157), allegedly issued in 1991 under Mr. Bhandari’s name with marks of 689 out of 900 (R.B. – 77, Language & Literature – 145, Physics Theory – 120 and Practical – 40, Chemistry Theory – 170 and Practical – 30, Biology Theory – 120 and Practical – 40), was actually registered to an Indian national, Arvind Srivastava. CIB sources confirmed that Mr. Bhandari utilized this fraudulent certificate to gain admission to medical school and subsequently obtain higher degrees.

According to the investigation, Mr. Bhandari completed his MBBS from Dagestan State Medical Academy in Russia using the illicit certificate, later earning an MD in Community Health and Preventive Medicine from BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in 2005. His professional trajectory, as outlined in his LinkedIn profile, included a stint as an Assistant Professor at BPKIHS from 2005 to 2009 (three years and five months), during which he also pursued a Master’s in Public Health in Belgium. He went on to hold various significant positions within Nepal’s public health sector, including Senior Epidemiologist at the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC) from 2009 to 2011 (two years and four months), Program Director at the Nepal Public Health Foundation from 2011 to 2013, and Epidemiologist at the SAARC Tuberculosis Centre from 2014 to 2015, before joining USAID as Chief of Staff at the Family Planning Association of Nepal.

In 2016, following the revelations of “Operation Quack,” Mr. Bhandari’s medical license was revoked after the CIB conclusively confirmed the fraudulent nature of his foundational certificate. While he was reportedly acquitted of fraud charges in court, as police filed the case under “cheating” rather than forgery, the Nepal Medical Council took decisive action, permanently deregistering him for “serious ethical misconduct.”

Dr. Satish Dev, Registrar of the Nepal Medical Council, affirmed the severity of the decision at the time, stating, “Medical certificates are not revoked under normal circumstances. They are only revoked in cases of serious ethical misconduct. After the fake certificate was confirmed, his registration was annulled.”

Despite this significant ethical breach and the permanent revocation of his medical license, Mr. Bhandari continued to secure high-level positions within various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). His resume indicates leadership roles at HEL/DFID (April 2019 – January 2021), FHI360 (February – September 2021), and PQM+/USAID, where he served as Deputy Chief of Party (October 2021 – January 2025) and later as Chief of Party (February – March 2025).

Mr. Bhandari’s recent appointment in June 2025 as Program and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the Global Fund project under UNDP has reignited the debate surrounding his fraudulent credentials. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has weighed in on the matter, with Information Officer Madhu Prasad Ghimire unequivocally stating, “If someone has acquired higher degrees using a forged I.Sc. certificate, those degrees hold no validity.”

This latest development raises critical questions about the vetting processes employed by international organizations operating within Nepal and the accountability of government ministries, particularly the Ministry of Health and Population, which reportedly coordinated closely with UNDP on this appointment. An email obtained by Swasthya Live Media indicated this coordination, further highlighting the need for transparency and stringent verification in appointments to positions of significant influence and public trust.