Kathmandu- Nepal, which is at risk of money laundering, is finally in danger of going to ‘listing’. The third round of mutual evaluation of Nepal on money laundering prevention is currently underway. This evaluation has passed the monitoring stage and has now reached the stage of deciding whether to list or not. It will be finalized next month. High-ranking officials participating in the evaluation processes have pointed out the risk of Nepal being listed. If it is listed for money laundering, the country’s international image and assistance will be affected.

Countries that do not formulate and implement adequate policies and laws on money laundering prevention are placed on the medium-level monitoring list (grey list) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In 2002, Nepal became a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a part of the international mechanism on money laundering, FATF. Since then, Nepal has issued the Money Laundering Prevention Act in 2008. However, even after so many years, Nepal has not been able to show its work in line with international commitments regarding the prevention of money laundering. Due to which, the risk of Nepal being placed on the grey list is increasing.

There are various stages of the ‘listing’ of anti-money laundering. In the first stage, countries that are seen as weak in terms of preventing money laundering are listed on the grey list. This is the first stage of ‘listing’. If there is no improvement even after this, the FATF will take steps up to the blacklist. Experts say that if it is listed for money laundering, it will have a negative impact on foreign investment, the country’s international image and the economy.

17 years ago, on the day the Anti-Money Laundering Act was promulgated in 2064, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation organized the first National Anti-Money Laundering Day at the Nepal Administrative Training Institute (Staff College) on Monday. At the event, Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari also said that Nepal’s monitoring period for mutual evaluation has ended and it is now in the listing stage. According to him, Nepal’s monitoring period report will be submitted at the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) conference. He indicated that Nepal is at risk of listing. “Even if the listing is done, there is a lot of groundwork ready to come out of it,” he said while speaking at the program. “We have the law. It is a matter of us stakeholders implementing it effectively.”