The government desperately needs to endorse three bills -- bill on amending the extradition law, bill on mutual legal assistance and bill on curbing organized crime -- as failing to do so would result in Nepal being listed by FATF as a high-risk country in terms of money laundering.[break]
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattari is requesting FATF and its member states through various diplomatic channels not to list Nepal in the high-risk category for failing to endorse the bills, said officials privy to developments.
"He is corresponding through various diplomatic channels to seek some more time from FATF for endorsing the bills," Dharma Raj Sapkota, chief of the financial information unit at Nepal Rastra Bank, told Republica.
The next parliamentary meeting has been called for February 17. Sapkota sees little possibility of Nepal meeting the deadline as the FATF meeting has already kicked off in Paris and will continue only until February 17.
Though the government, leaders from the major political parties and the parliament secretariat were for endorsing the bills Monday, this could not be done due to objection by a section of lawmakers from the hardline faction of the prime minister´s own party, UCPN (Maoist).
Addressing the House on Monday, lawmaker Ekraj Bhandari threatened to launch protests within and outside parliament if the government and other political parties tried to endorse the bills despite their objection.
Lawyer-turned lawmaker Bhandari argued that there was no need to endorse these additional three bills since Nepal had already ratified two UN conventions and a bill on money laundering. "Besides that we have enough laws for addressing the issues," he said at the House meeting. "We will launch protests within and outside parliament if these bills are not withdrawn."
He described the government proposal to bring the new laws as a move at the behest of imperialists.
No sooner had the speaker called on Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar to table the bills than Bhandari rose from his seat and announced a walkout from the meeting in protest. Lawmakers including Narayan Sharma, Padam Rai, Sabitri Kumar Kafle, Shivaraj Gautam, Shivaram Yadav, Ishwori Dahal and Dabal Bahadur Shah were among those who staged the walkout.
The government´s plan has been foiled by lawmakers from the prime minister´s own party even as the main opposition party Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML extended their full support and no lawmaker from any other opposition party objected to the bills.
In a sarcastic comment, Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha described the ruling party lawmakers´ protest as preposterous. "I think this is the special feature of the parliamentary system in the 21st century," he said at parliament.
Possible implications
Officials said international banks may block the bank accounts run by Nepali diplomatic missions abroad. The banks may not honor letters of credit (LC) or may impose additional charges for conducting extra scrutiny for LC originating in a country in the high-risk category.
"That will eventually mean additional charges on imports or may hinder imports from foreign countries in other ways. Remittances and other Nepal-bound finances may come under similar additional scrutiny," said officials.
They said there will as well be difficulty getting concession loans from international financing agencies. "Moreover, Nepali citizens may not be able to use green channels while clearing immigration checks abroad," informed the officials. "Nepalis in general will obviously face extra hassles at immigration."
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