Out of 162 surveyed countries, Nepal ranks 14 in the AML Index. Pakistan is at 48 position, Sri Lanka at 54, Bangladesh at 57, China at 70, and India at 88. Afghanistan ranks second in the AMI Index, making it the South Asian country with the highest risk of money-laundering.     Nepal comes in second.

 Similarly, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Guinea –Bissua, Iraq, Mali, Swaziland and Myanmar are among the countries with high money-laundering risk. Slovenia, Estonia and Finland are among the countries with lowest money-laundering risk.  

Anti-money laundering officials in Nepal, however, disagree with the report. They argue they have achieved a lot in terms of tackling money-laundering.

“We have achieved a great deal after the Parliament endorsed the Anti-Money Laundering Act in June,” said Chudamani Sharma, the director general at the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI). He believes that Basel AML Index missed did not update the latest progress made by the DMLI.

In July 2011, the government established DMLI, one of the pivotal investigative units to fight money-laundering and terrorist financing. Despite wide jurisdiction in tackling money-laundering, the DMLI has not yet made a notable achievement so far. It did earn praises and accolades from different quarters initially after it dragged some infamous gangsters to the court on charge of accumulating disproportionate properties.   

The DMLI, however, fell from grace after one of its officers, Shambhu Prasad Chalise, was caught red-handed accepting Rs 1 million bribe recently.