Fiscal Nepal
First Business News Portal in English from Nepal
KATHMANDU: The government has expanded the scope of Nepal’s anti-money laundering legal framework by bringing banking, insurance, insider trading, customs-related smuggling and market manipulation under the ambit of predicate offences linked to money laundering.
The amendment has been introduced through revisions to Section 13 of the Asset (Money) Laundering Prevention Act, 2008 (2064 BS), allowing authorities to investigate and prosecute financial crimes more comprehensively.
Under the revised provisions, customs, excise and tax-related smuggling, direct and indirect tax evasion, activities that adversely affect securities or commodities markets, including market manipulation, insider trading, as well as offences related to currency, banking, financial systems, foreign exchange, negotiable instruments and insurance, will now be treated as offences associated with money laundering.
The amendment enables complaints to be filed with the concerned department if information related to money laundering connected to such offences is identified.
Previously, complaints regarding money laundering could be lodged even in cases where no direct relationship with a predicate offence was clearly established. However, the amended law has now explicitly defined the sectors and categories of offences that fall within the jurisdiction of anti-money laundering investigations.
The government has also amended Section 22 of the Act, changing the legal arrangement for filing cases. Earlier, provisions required cases to be filed through the Office of the Government Attorney. Under the revised framework, in matters investigated by the department, cases will now be filed through a government attorney office designated by the Government of Nepal through a gazette notification, while other cases will continue to be filed through the respective government attorney offices.
According to the amendment, if an investigation conducted by the department finds sufficient grounds for prosecution, government attorneys may file cases at the Special Court.
The revised law also authorizes the department, during investigations, to recommend prosecution for related predicate offences falling within its jurisdiction alongside money laundering charges.
Earlier, Section 29(10) of the Act allowed prosecution based on evidence obtained through investigation for either the predicate offence, money laundering offence, or both. The amendment further clarifies the prosecutorial process and strengthens legal coordination between financial crime investigations and related criminal offences.
The legal revision comes as Nepal seeks to tighten its financial crime enforcement regime, strengthen regulatory oversight in the banking and capital markets, and align anti-money laundering mechanisms with evolving international compliance standards.
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