Published on 2011-04-29 22:41:22

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=30791

KATHMANDU, April 29: Representatives from the Asia-Pacific Group on anti-money laundering have pressed top officials of the Nepal government to ratify the United Nations Convention on anti-money laundering.

The representatives called on Speaker Subas Nembang to push for the ratification of the convention. The bill to ratify the convention has already been registered in the parliament and forwarded to the bills committee for deliberations.

According to parliament secretariat officials, the representatives have warned of blacklisting Nepal if the parliament fails to ratify the convention by June 23.

The Speaker has briefed the top leaders about the consequences if Nepal fails to ratify the convention, said the officials.

The plenary of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti-money laundering global body formed by G-20, held in Paris from February 20 to 22 has asked Nepal to comply with anti-money laundering measures within four months.

If not, it has warned of issuing a global warrant against Nepal, a step which will blacklist Nepal in the global financial system. If that happens, countries across the world will not recognize letter of credit issued by Nepali banks and also not accept reinsurance payment and other financial transactions done from Nepal. This will create a situation of embargo, which will have serious impact on country´s trade and payments.

To avoid this situation, Nepal would need to comply with the commitment that the government has made at FATF and enact Anti-Money Laundering Act at the earliest. The government had committed to enact the law by December 2010, but has repeatedly missed the deadline.

That is not all. Nepal would also need to plug existing gaps in policies, something which FATF says is a must to criminalize money laundering and terrorist financing. It will also need to enact Extradition Act, Mutual Legal Assistance Act and Organized Crime Act and take strong steps to implement procedures that identify and freezes terrorist assets.