Nepal is committed to act against
the flow of dirty money in the country.
"The government has brought
legal and regulatory laws to fight the flow of dirty money," informed the
finance minister Shankar Prasad Koirala, talking to the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF) mission here in his office today.
The mission
of the FATF — an intergovernmental body that sets standards for fighting
financial crime — is in Kathmandu to review the progress made by the country in
combating money laundering and terror financing.
Giving higher importance to the
fight against the flow of dirty money, the government has brought five Acts
through ordinance – due to lack of parliament – in last four years, he said,
adding that the government has also established Department of Money Laundering,
empowered Financial Information Unit (FIU) under the central bank, and other
agencies according to the international commitment of the country. "The
initiative is also expected to help clean the economy."
The ordinances will be approved
by the parliament as the country is going to have parliament soon, he added.
The country has improved
significantly in the anti-money laundering, said central bank governor Dr Yub
Raj Khatiwada, on the occasion. "Though, the political parties had some
confusion over the understanding of the issue in the beginning, it has been made
clear," he added.
The central bank has yesterday,
again, asked the banks and financial institutions to keep hawk's eye on the
flow of suspicious money transfers and report it to the central bank
immediately to stop the flow of dirty money.
The country will move ahead with
more commitment correcting the weaknesses of the past, promised the finance
secretary Shanta Raj Subedi. "The government has targeted to strengthen
capacity of the related agencies in the future," he said, adding that the
country will soon prepare the report and send it to the FATF.
The mission, on the occasion,
said that they will submit the report to the higher level of FATF, and the
February meeting will decide on the fate of Nepal. If the representatives
submit a satisfactory report to the FATF, Nepal will be removed from the
current status of ‘watch list’ of International Co-operation Review Group,
which comprises countries at high risk of providing a breeding ground for money
laundering and terror financing.
During the two-day visit the FATF
mission that comprises of representative of the Asia Pacific Group on Money
Laundering (APG) will gauge Nepal’s progress in anti-money laundering and
combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) based on compliance of FATF’s 40
recommendations plus nine special recommendations on terrorist financing.
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