‘Govt committed to fight flow of dirty money’

Published On: March 17, 2017 07:42 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Mar 17: The government is fully committed to combating the flow of dirty money that propagates financial crime, a central bank official said on Thursday.

Speaking at a learning event entitled ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (AML/TF) in Nepal’ for young entrepreneurs, organized by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Nepal in Kathmandu on Thursday, Hari Kumar Nepal, deputy director of Financial Information Unit, Nepal Rastra Bank, said that government was fully committed to control any form of financial crime including money laundering and tax evasion.

“Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing is no longer the issue of Nepal only, it has drawn attention of governments all over the world and other international organizations,” he said, adding that the government was serious on the issue and that it will leave no stone unturned to eradicate such practices.

He also said that money laundering has worsened not only the business sector, but also politics and administration. The event basically focused on demarcation between money laundering and tax evasion, legal frameworks and contribution of business sector to control it.

“Surveys show that more than 3.6 percent of global GDP is earned through criminal activities,” Nepal said, adding: “If we add amount of tax evasion to it, the result is shockingly high.

But one has to be aware of the fact that each and every business started with black money is a crime. And, one cannot get peace of mind with black money.”

He also said that tax evasion supported by corruption is the biggest challenge of Nepal.
“It starts right from a general landlord to show low rental charge to evade tax. So, it is very much difficult to bring this all in track,” Nepal added.

The event was followed by an interaction session where young entrepreneurs and EO members shared their view on how business sector can work together with government to implement the measures to control financial crimes.