KATHMANDU: Nepal has been added to the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for not taking strong enough actions against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The decision was made at a meeting held in Paris from February 19 to 21. Along with Nepal, Laos was also added to the grey list, while the Philippines was removed.
FATF has pointed out that Nepal needs to improve in seven areas to better fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
These areas include understanding the risks, supervising high-risk sectors like banks and casinos, stopping illegal money transfer services, and improving investigations and prosecutions related to money laundering.
Despite some progress since August 2023, such as better legal cooperation and strengthening the Financial Investigation Unit, FATF says more work is needed. Nepal has promised to work with FATF and the Asia-Pacific Group to fix these issues.
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