The chief of staff at Paraguay's Agriculture Ministry, Arnaldo Chamorro, was replaced this week after admitting he'd been conned into talks and signing a memorandum of understanding with representatives of a non-existent country. 

Chamorro told reporters on Thursday that purported officials from the "United States of Kailasa" had told him the country was a South American island. 

"They came and expressed a wish to help Paraguay," he said. "They presented several projects, we listened to them and that was that." 

He had been replaced on Wednesday, he said. 

He said the fake officials also met Agriculture Minister Carlos Gimenez and that their motives for duping him were not clear. 

MoU pledged to seek diplomatic relations and UN membership

Chamorro and Paraguay's Agriculture Ministry are not the first officials to fall for tricks by representatives of the "United States of Kailasa," whose purported "pontiff" and leader is a Hindu cult leader who goes by the name "Nithyananda." 

The memorandum signed by the two parties had envisaged the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two "countries."

In the document, complete with the ministry's letterhead and official seal, Chamorro salutes "the honorable Nithyananda Paramashivam, sovereign of the United States of Kailasa" and praises his "contributions to Hinduism, humanity and the Republic of Paraguay."

The memorandum also called for Paraguay to push for Kailasa's acceptance into "various international organizations, including the United Nations."

The agriculture ministry in a statement lamented "procedural errors" committed and said the memorandum "cannot be considered official" nor could it confer any obligations on the state of Paraguay.

Hindu cult leader, fugitive and 'pontiff' 

Nithyananda, a self-styled guru, fled India in 2019, wanted on various criminal charges, including sex offenses. His whereabouts remains unknown. 

People purporting to represent the United States of Kailasa attended two UN events in Geneva earlier this year. UN officials later said their comments would be disregarded. 

The City of Newark in the US also had to issue an apology for a "regrettable incident" after Mayor Ras Baraka entertained a delegation from the United States of Kailasa for five days and signed a sister city partnership deal. 

The fictional state has an active social media presence, often either celebrating supposed government initiatives or sharing similar agreements purportedly made with prominent people or organizations. 

On Kailasa's website, the fictional country is described as the "revival of the ancient enlightened Hindu civilizational nation which is being revived by displaced Hindus from around the world."

msh/jsi (AFP, AP)