Added At:  2011-04-03 11:22 PM

Last Updated At: 2011-04-03 11:22 PM

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=NRB+questions+withdrawal+from+its+US+bank+account&NewsID=282525

KATHMANDU: The central bank considers the case of a US bank withdrawing $1 million from its account can be indication that money deposited in American banks is not safe.

“If the central bank does not get its money back that has been unjustly withdrawn from its account, it will prove that American banks are not to be trusted upon,” said an official of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) referring to an American court’s decision to debit $1 million from NRB’s account of Standard Chartered Bank’s New York branch on the petition of Ashim Khatri Chhetri seeking recovery of his $1 million that was frozen in Nepal by the authorities on the suspicion of money laundering — that is a serious case internationally too.

The official expressed that if any bank can access and withdraw the money kept in American banks without even informing the account holder that means the money is not safe over there.

“The American court’s jurisdiction ends with its own borders, Nepal and its central bank do not fall under its domain so how can it give permission to take their money out,” commented the official.

The officials at NRB are hopeful that this will backfire on the launderers themselves. The international law regarding anti-money laundering are quite strict thus if proven to be engaged in such activities the sender and recipient of that money can be convicted as per the law. “This is undoubtedly a case of money laundering as there is no evidence of any supplies were brought in. Thus, if money enters the financial channels that is not backed up by strong evidence of the source or origin then that is an obvious case of laundering as in this case,” said the official.

NRB is seeking diplomatic channels through government to retrieve the money that has been withdrawn unrightfully.

The central bank has filed a case in the US District Court of New York, to revoke its earlier decision and retrieve their money debited by Chase Bank.

On the suspicion of money laundering, NRB and Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) had stopped the payment of $1 million sent to Chinese national Wu Lixian in his account at Nepal Bangladesh Bank (NBB) by Ashim Khatri Chhetri from USA, in 2008. According to Chhetri, the money was sent as the payment to Lixian for supplying logistics to Nepal Army and Nepal Police. However, as Lixian failed to produce documents substantiating that physical transaction was undertaken, DRI filed a case against him at the Special Court, Kathmandu, on the charge of money laundering. The case is still pending in the court.

Apparently Chhetri filed a case at a court in New York in order to recover his money and the court gave the verdict in his favour due to absence of response from Nepali authorities.

Based on the court’s verdict, Chase Bank that had transferred the money to NBB’s account in July 2008 deducted $1 million from an NRB account at a Standard Chartered Bank branch in New York.