By Anil Giri,
Kathmandu : The Indian government has approved a Capacity Development Programme for the officials of the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI), Nepal, and other stakeholder ministries in the Nepal government to counter the challenges of money laundering and terrorist financing.
DMLI is one of the pivotal investigative units in Nepal to check money laundering, terrorist financing and other forms of earnings from illicit or criminal activities. It is a regulatory body for the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.
The Indian programme is aimed at strengthening institutional capacity development of departments concerned in the Nepal government.
The programme is designed to cover the evolution of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), evaluation process by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), intelligence collection methodology, procedure for registering and investigating cases under PMLA, tracing proceeds of crime, terror financing, international cooperation and other relevant topics, said a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
The first of its kind programme is being conducted in three phases covering experience sharing and high-level interaction for senior officials, advanced course for investigation officers and basic course for junior staff. In all, 60 officials from Nepal would participate in these courses to be held in New Delhi.
The participants from Nepal include officials from the DMLI, financial information unit of Nepal Rashtra Bank, Government Attorney Office, finance ministry, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, home ministry, Central Investigation Bureau and other relevant Departments.
During the programme, senior Indian officials from the Enforcement Directorate, FATF Cell and home ministry will interact with the participants and share mutual experience.
The first batch of 10 officers attended the first phase of the programme on experience sharing and high-level interaction in New Delhi during July 21-25.
The remaining two programmes spread over six weeks are being conducted during the months of August and September, 2014.
(Anil Giri can be contacted at [email protected] )