Separate police unit in to handle financial crimes

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 4: In the fiscal year 2023/24, a total of 59,203 criminal cases were registered across police offices nationwide, and of them, 13,263 cases were related to banking offences, with 7,662 of these cases registered in the Kathmandu Valley.

With the increasing use of technology, the number of banking frauds and other financial crimes is also rising. 

Until now, these crimes have been handled by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police, the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office and other regular police departments.

However, due to the growing number of banking and financial crimes, it has become challenging to manage them effectively with the current police infrastructure, leading to an initiative to establish a dedicated unit for these offences.

Police Spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dan Bahadur Karki said that efforts were underway at a fast pace to set up a separate bureau for investigating financial crimes. 

"Eight months ago, the Police Headquarters communicated this need to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Currently, necessary documentation and administrative procedures are ongoing," he said. "The rise in crimes such as cooperative fraud, cheque bounce, financial offences, online scams, illegal call bypass and gold smuggling has highlighted the necessity of a dedicated agency."

At present, cooperative frauds are rampant, with the revelations of the incidents of cooperative operators embezzling billions of rupees of depositors. 

Various police units are investigating these cases, and a separate special parliamentary investigation committee has also been formed for a more detailed investigation into cooperative scams.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has, at different times, disclosed information about various technologies being used in gold smuggling and illegal payments made through online platforms during its investigations. 

Financial elements are increasingly being linked to cases of hundi transactions, cheque bounce, cryptocurrency, and other crimes. Due to the lack of a specialised unit for these investigations, the police have initiated the process of establishing a separate bureau for financial crimes.

According to Joint Secretary Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, who is also the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs, this initiative was a priority for the ministry. 

Preparations are now underway to conduct an Organisation and Management Survey (O&M) to establish the bureau permanently and to draft guidelines for the necessary methods and manpower. However, discussions are ongoing to see whether the bureau's work could be begun temporarily using the existing workforce.

The Directorate for Investigation Planning and Development of Nepal Police is making technical preparations for the establishment of the new bureau of police. 

According to the Directorate, a proposal requiring at least 137 personnel to start the bureau has already been submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has been proposed that a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) will lead the new bureau.

Currently, Nepal Police operates various specialised bureaus for investigations, including the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), Narcotics Control Bureau, Anti-Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau and Cyber Bureau. These bureaus function according to their respective mandates.

According to DIG Karki with the advancement of technology, financial crimes are on the rise, creating a need for skilled and technical personnel to address them.