The Third Amendment Ordinance to Prevent Money Laundering brought by the government has added some charges. The charges related to smuggling and insider trading have been added so that cases can be filed under money laundering.

The ordinance, recommended by the Council of Ministers meeting held last Monday, has been published in the Gazette. The charges have been added by adding clause (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the original Act.

The added charges include smuggling (including customs, excise and taxes), taxes (including direct or indirect), affecting the securities or commodities market (market manipulation) or insider trading (insider trading), currency, banking, finance, foreign exchange, exchange warrants and insurance. It is mentioned that the department will investigate if there is information about money laundering related to these. The ordinance also states that if the department has to file a case, it will be registered in the special court.

(2) The following restrictive phrase has been added to sub-section (2), ‘If it appears that the case will be prosecuted from the investigation conducted by the department, the government prosecutor shall file a case in the special court.’

Similarly, in section 22 of the original act, the words ‘in the relevant government prosecutor’s office’ in sub-section (1) have been amended to read ‘in the case of the department, in the government prosecutor’s office designated by the Government of Nepal by publication of a notification in the Gazette and in the case of others, in the relevant government prosecutor’s office.