https://risingnepaldaily.com/news/85166

Nepal Police is probing 25 money laundering cases involving 64 suspects as authorities intensify efforts to curb illicit financial activities and strengthen the country’s anti-money laundering regime amid continued scrutiny from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Nepal Police Central Spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abi Narayan Kafle said the investigations were initiated in the fiscal year 2025/26 in connection with various criminal offences and have continued into the current fiscal year.

Police have been authorised to investigate money laundering offences since the Cabinet expanded their jurisdiction on March 25, 2024. Previously, such cases were handled primarily by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.

DIG Kafle said police initiate separate money laundering investigations when assets or financial transactions with no identifiable legitimate source are uncovered during investigations into other crimes.

“Investigations are ongoing across the country. If assets with no legitimate source are discovered while investigating offences such as illicit financial transactions, cooperative frauds, cryptocurrency-related crimes, criminal proceeds or human trafficking, police also initiate money laundering investigations,” Kafle told The Rising Nepal.

Police units across all districts are authorised to investigate such offences, he informed. One recent case involves businessman Abhishek Giri, who was arrested in Kathmandu and transferred to Morang for a money laundering investigation. He had previously faced fraud and criminal breach of trust charges after investigators allegedly identified assets suspected to have been acquired unlawfully. Giri was, however, released on bail amount last week.

Police said they had filed 15 money laundering cases in fiscal year 2025/26, compared with 13 in the previous fiscal year. Altogether, 28 cases have been filed by police to date, naming 78 defendants. Two cases have resulted in convictions, while 26 remain pending before district courts, clarified the DIG.

During the investigations, from different defendants, police have so far seized Rs. 53.53 million in cash, US$900, 350 Chinese yuan and 390 Thai baht, along with four vehicles and 36 mobile phones. They have also frozen assets worth around Rs. 1.50 billion belonging to the defendants, including 9 ropani 15 ana 3 paisa and 0.7 dam of land, 3.75 million worth of shares, and funds held in bank accounts and digital wallets.

Police have sought compensation totalling Rs. 3.54 billion across the 28 cases. In a case decided by the Lalitpur District Court on January 15, 2026, Sunil Rai was convicted of illegal betting, virtual currency-related offences, forgery and money laundering. He was sentenced to three years in prison and fined Rs. 3.4 million. The court also ordered him to deposit Rs. 135,970 into the Victims Relief Fund and bank deposits and other assets were confiscated.

In another case, the Kathmandu District Court sentenced Chinese national Xiao Yang and Nepali national Rojina Sunar to eight years and six months in prison each on March 11. They were each fined Rs. 37.29 million, while additional cash, jewellery, vehicles and mobile phones were confiscated.

Focus on high-risk offences

DIG Kafle said police are prioritising offences considered highly vulnerable to money laundering, including human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, hundi transactions, tax evasion, corruption, banking offences, cybercrime and cryptocurrency-related activities.

“We are prioritising investigations, strengthening prosecution and freezing, confiscating and bringing illegally acquired assets under state control,” he said. “We are treating this as a high-priority task to help Nepal exit the FATF grey list,” he added.

The FATF placed Nepal on its grey list for money laundering and terrorist financing risks on February 21, 2025. Nepal remains under enhanced monitoring and must demonstrate by January 2027 that it has implemented legal reforms, effectively enforced anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws, and strengthened investigations and prosecutions.

Nepal had previously been under FATF enhanced monitoring since August 2023. It was earlier placed on the grey list in 2008 and removed in 2014 following reforms.

Nepal’s 2019 National Risk Assessment identified corruption, tax evasion, human trafficking, smuggling and black-market activities as major sources of money laundering. Drug trafficking, organised crime, extortion, fraud, banking offences, currency-related crimes, kidnapping, forgery and insider trading were categorised as medium-risk offences.

SC acquits Chakre Milan

The Supreme Court (SC) has acquitted Milan Gurung, popularly known as Chakre Milan, in a money laundering case, upholding the Special Court’s earlier acquittal. A division bench of Justices Abdulajeez Musalman and Meghraj Pokharel upheld the verdict on August 7, 2026, eight years after the government appealed against it. The Department of Money Laundering Investigation had filed the case against Gurung and four others at the Special Court on May 19, 2013.