Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharatmohan Adhikari tabled the bills for ratification at the parliament meeting and the House subsequently endorsed them by a majority.[break]
The government was given the Friday deadline to endorse the conventions by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global body overseeing anti-money laundering. Had the parliament failed to ratify the conventions by Friday, the global body could have blacklisted the country. In such a situation, international community would have stopped carrying out financial transactions with Nepal.
The former rebel party UCPN (Maoist) was planning to register its reservations on the Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism-1999. Maoists demanded that the convention be ratified only after clarifying the wordings ´organized crime´ mentioned in the convention. Though Maoist Lawmaker Ekraj Bhandari earlier in the afternoon registered his reservations in writing at the parliament secretariat, which he later withdrew.
"I agreed not to take my reservations against certain words in the convention any further as the Finance Minister, while addressing the House, clarified that the convention wouldn´t be invoked with regard to any political activities," Bhandari told Republica.
Similarly, Usha Kala Rai of the ruling CPN-UML registered her reservations against the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, 1999. "Nepal hereby declares that it doesn´t consider itself bound by the provision of paragraph 1 of Article 24 of the international convention for the suppression of the financing of terrorism."
The paragraph 1 of the Article 24 reads, "Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the interpretation of application of this convention which cannot be settled through negotiation within a reasonable time shall, at the request of one of them, be submitted to arbitration. If within six months from the date of the request for arbitration, the parties are unable to agree on the organization of the arbitration, any one of those parties may refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, by application, in conformity with the Statute of the Court."
Going by the commitment expressed in the international forum, Nepal was required to ratify three UN conventions and four Acts related to anti-money laundering (AML) and controlling of terrorism financing by 2010. Amid political transition, Nepal repeatedly missed the deadlines.
Given the gravity of the situation, Finance Minister Adhikari on Thursday had to personally write to the plenum of FATF currently being held in Mexico, apprising it about Nepal´s latest endeavors to get the required conventions and Act endorsed by the parliament. A team led by Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Yuvraj Khatiwada is attending the meeting in Mexico.
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