A Nepali who spent three months in custody for immigration fraud was freed last week after prosecutors dropped the case for lack of evidence.

A Hong Kong newspaper reported that the case of Namaram Rai, 37, was the latest in a series of Immigration Department incidents in which alleged offenders have spent time behind bars before walking free from court. Last year, a 16-year-old American resident spent three months in detention for possession of a forged passport which turned out to be authentic. Rai found himself in a similar position, according to his legal counsel.

Rai was arrested in March earlier this year with using a false travel document-his Nepali passport-on May 27 1995. He also faced two other counts of making false representations to an immigration officer, in May 1995 and December 1995, when he maintained he was Namaram Rai, the name on the passport.

Prosecutors identified him as Dambar Kumar Limbu in his charge sheet.
Rai was granted bail on 14 June pending his trial. A spokesman for the Immigration Department said officials still considered Namaram Rai to be Dambar Kumar Limbu and they would investigate the matter further. Rai\'s lawyer, however, said immigration officials did not conduct any scientific tests on Rai\'s passport, which could easily have proved his identity. She handed the court letters from the Nepali consulate in Hong Kong and from immigration officials in Nepal which she said verified the passport\'s authenticity.