The Department of Revenue Investigation (DoRI) on Sunday released Captain Subarna Awale, who was arrested with undeclared $93,600 from the Tribhuvan International Airport last Sunday, after he posted Rs 9.6 million bail.

The DoRI said they completed recording the statement of Awale and freed him on bail. 

The senior captain of Nepal Airlines, Awale was held from the TIA with the undeclared dollar bills before he was supposed to fly an NAC aircraft to Dubai.

While Awale has been maintaining that the money in his possession was meant for the tuition of his daughter studying in the US, the DoRI has sought help of the Ministry of Education and Nepal Rastra Bank to verify his claim, said Ram Krishna Subedi, the department’s director general.

Awale has told investigators that his daughter’s university had contacted him regarding her tuition and he reckoned transferring the money from Dubai would be easier than from Nepal not realising it would be illegal.  

The case is being investigated by the DoRI and the Nepal Police Central Investigation Bureau.

Subedi said they were preparing to file a case against Awale at the Kathmandu District Court .

The CIB, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out the case. 

Although the CIB had initially considered filing a case on organised crime against Awale on a suspicion that he may have links with the gold smuggling racket active in the country, it could not gather substantial evidence. 

Superintendent of Police Mira Chaudhary said the CIB has not made a formal decision about the case yet.

Also, since the amount seized from Awale was less than Rs 10 million ( $93,600 or Rs 9.6 million) and he seemed to be the only person involved, the CIB did not see it fit to file the case.