Money earned by illicit red sandalwood trade and hooliganism have been diverted into share-market to make the money white. Different groups are engaged in the laundering process, said Rajendra Khetan, a lawmaker and businessmen. Speaking at a parliamentarian Public Accounts Committee under Legislature Parliament, he said that the vicious circle of money laundering has emerged to cheat revenue and wash black money to white. "Money earned from illegal sources is deposited in banks which later invested in share and ultimately that money used to strengthen illegal business," he said.
Banks should follow certain customer identification procedure for opening of accounts and monitoring transactions to stop the money laundering process, he said. The Nepal Rastra Bank should introduce the Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines at the earliest, he added. "The KYC guideline will help end money laundering by illegal traders." In the programme, officials from Nepal Rastra Bank pledged to abide by the directives which will be received from the parliamentarian committee. "Controlling illegal money from deposit is challenging," deputy governor at the central bank Gopal Kafle said, adding that the central bank will initiate the process to control such trends.
"The central bank is putting its effort to control money laundering," he said. Currently, Financial Information Unit under the central bank is carrying out activities to curb money laundering. Financial Information Unit is an agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating financial information and intelligence on suspected money laundering and terrorist financing activities, deputy governor Kafle said. The central bank is committed to end money laundering by strengthening its monitoring capacity, he pledged.
