2023 was the year of scandals. A new scam was exposed by investigative journalists seemingly almost every week. Those involved included land revenue officials, party leaders, bureaucrats, ministers, as well as former prime ministers Babauram Bhattarai and Madhav Kumar Nepal. Nepal Police arrested customs officials, Chinese and Indian nationals, and middlemen. The scandals exposed systemic corruption and rot at the top of Nepali politics, bureaucracy, and business, but also spotlighted the role of investigative journalists and a free press in holding truth to power.