November 2: The bill related to money laundering is gathering dust in parliament. The bill needs to be passed by the parliament in order to avoid Nepal falling in the ‘grey list’ of money laundering.

Although Nepal is in imminent risk of falling in the grey list, the policy makers are least bothered about moving the bill forward to amend certain laws related to prevention of money laundering and promotion of business environment.

In the first session of the parliament, this bill did not get as much priority as it should have. The expectation that the bill would be passed in the second session did not materialize.

The current session of parliament is scheduled to end from Thursday (today). In the agenda of the parliament meeting for November 2, which was released by the Parliament Secretariat on Wednesday evening, nothing has been mentioned about the matter related to money laundering to be discussed in the House.

Matters such as answering questions, receiving letters from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, and submitting the annual report have been put on the agenda as the second session of the parliament draws to a close.

Even though the bill on money laundering has been amended by the parliamentary committee and sent to the full House, the matter to be discussed on the laws related to money laundering has not been placed on the agenda.

Sources at the Parliament Secretariat said that the bill was not included in the agenda because political consensus could not be reached. Although the government extended the budget session with the intention to pass the Transitional Justice Bill and the Money  Laundering Bill, political parties could not reach a consensus on these issues until the end. As a result, the government is preparing to prorouge the current session of the Federal Parliament on Thursday without passing both the bills.

Hitraj Pandey, chief whip of the ruling CPN Maoist Center, said that although the government wanted to end the session only after passing the bill related to money laundering and TRC, it could not be fulfilled.

According to him, even if the agenda of money laundering is tabled in the lower house meeting, it will take time to pass the bill because it needs approval from the National Assembly, the upper house of parliament.

He claimed that both bills will be moved to the next session and will be passed in the next session.

Mahesh Kumar Bartaula, the whip of the main opposition party CPN (UML), said that this legislation was not among the priorities of the government. He told New Business Age, "In view of the danger of the country falling into the gray list, this bill was quickly passed by the parliamentary committee and sent to the full House, but it did not get priority in the House."

The Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives has already submitted the revised report on the bill to the House of Representatives.

If passed by the House of Representatives, the bill will go to the National Assembly. National Assembly members have 72 hours to amend and pass the bill and return it back to the House of Representatives.

If the National Assembly makes an amendment proposal, the House of Representatives reserves the right to accept or reject it. If it is accepted, it can be directly passed and sent to the president for authentication. But, if it is rejected, the fate of the bill will be decided by a joint meeting of both the houses of parliament.

Risk remains

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body that regulates money laundering, has repeatedly alerted Nepal about the risk of Nepal falling in the grey list and has also given warnings. FATF has been urging Nepal to enact a strict laws related to money laundering. The Asia Pacific Group (APG) had warned in the preliminary assessment report submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers in the last week of January that Nepal would be subject to international monitoring if a strong anti-money laundering law is not enacted.

FATF has been accusing Nepal that the legal provisions are not sufficient to control organized crime, and that the Government has not paid attention to the provisions in the United Nations Convention on Financial Crimes, Terrorist Activities and Corruption.

Altogether 21 countries from Syria to the UAE are included in the grey list. Most of the countries are from Africa and the Gulf region.

If the countries in the grey list do not make any progress, they might eventually be blacklisted.