Fight against money laundering
KATHMANDU:
The state’s money laundering fighting body has been able to score 100 per cent success in getting the accused convicted since it began operations 33 months ago.
The Special Court — that hears the cases lodged under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2064 — has given verdict on 14 cases filed by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI). All of the concluded cases have sentenced and penalised the culprits, while only one case has requested an appeal, according to the DMLI statistics. So far, the department has filed 27 cases at the Special Court after completing its investigation, while it is looking into 310 cases at present.
The investigative body is working to curb money laundering, terrorist financing, and other forms of illicit earnings.
“We undertake the investigations based on the complaints lodged by the public and also by agencies like police, central bank’s Financial Information Unit and others, but we have witnessed many complaints made out of malice and envy as well,” informed Chudamani Sharma, director general of DMLI, during an interaction programme held here today
regarding anti-money laundering issues.
Hence, the anti-money laundering watchdog could undertake serious investigation of a mere three cases out of the 520 complaints.
Money laundering refers to the process of converting illegally earned money into legal — cleaning the dirty money. The money thus earned is not only detrimental to the local economy and society but also becomes a source of financing international terrorism.
“We feel that people need to be informed and made aware about money laundering activities and that it is a punishable criminal offence,” pointed out Sharma, adding that any wealth amassed by a person without any apparent source means
that it is the result of money laundering.
“As anyone who has earned money by being involved in illicit activities will not be able to reveal the source, so money laundering investigations pursued properly can also unearth many other related crimes,” he said.
DMLI’s Deputy Director General Arjun Prasad Pokharel also stressed the need to properly implement the anti-money laundering laws. “If we can disseminate the idea that illegally earned assets will invite repercussions, it can help minimise crimes,” he said.
The network of money laundering is interlinked globally and the international body, Financial Action Task Force, is monitoring Nepal’s progress concerning enactment of the related laws. Although, Nepal is still in the grey list — meaning the country is working on improving the anti-money laundering measures — much still remains to be done.
Source: THT
