Lucknow,

02 April (HS): There is an illegal facility for exchanging all currencies in

the border areas adjoining Nepal. For this, a commission of 3 to 4 percent is

fixed according to the country and demand. Here commission is also fixed from

the smuggling of gold.

Black

business of money exchange: Illegal arrangement was found to exchange every

currency into Nepalese and Indian rupees at the border at a commission of 3 to

4 percent. Nepal is bearing the brunt of this in the form of action in the grey

list of the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF). According to the

organization, Nepal is a safe haven for terror funding. Illegal money exchange

is also a link to this.

Pakistani

currency will also change: The commission in money exchange varies according to

the country, demand and need. We exchanged Indian two thousand rupees into

Nepali currency at 3% from Parmendra at Rupaidiha border in Bahraich district.

We asked him to exchange Pakistani currency as well, at first he was

surprised... he paused for a while and said... it will cost 20%. We insisted on

10 and moved ahead.

Any

currency will be exchanged: On the border adjoining Siddharth Nagar, we also

got the facility of exchange of British Pound Sterling, US Dollar, UAE Dirham,

South Korean Won and Chinese Yuan currency. Abid, who we met at the border,

claimed that the exchange will be done no matter how many currencies there are.

It will just take some time. From here we reached Maharajganj district.

Just

before the Sonauli police station, a money exchange shop is openly set up. In

Nautanwa, there was talk of exchanging Dollar and Dirham. When the deal could

not be finalized on commission, we reached the third big center Thuthibari.

From Nichlaul Road to the Kotwali gate, there was facility of exchanging Indian

Rupee into Nepalese and Nepalese into Indian Rupee, but no one was ready to

exchange Dirham and Dollar.

Meanwhile,

a paan shop owner told us about Guddu, who agreed to exchange any currency.

Former IB officer Santosh Singh says that illegal money exchange in the Indian

areas bordering Nepal is not good for the security of the country.

Commission

is decided by smuggling of gold: Vinesh Gupta, present at the Sonauli border,

told us that commission in illegal money exchange depends on the smuggling of

gold. If gold smuggling increases, commission will also increase. If smuggling

decreases, commission will also decrease. Between November and January,

commission had reached seven percent... the meaning is clear, then gold was

being brought from Nepal to India.

10

tons of gold is smuggled from Nepal every year: According to the report of

Observer Research Foundation, every year about 10 tons of gold is smuggled from

Nepal to India. The foundation claims that after gold, the biggest human

trafficking takes place from Nepal.

Nepal

put in grey list by FATF: Money exchange is directly linked to money

laundering. It is being used as terror funding in Nepal. After getting evidence

of this, FATF has included Nepal in the 'grey' list. Yashoda Srivastava, an

expert on India-Nepal relations, says that only those countries are included in

this list which are considered safe for terror financing and money laundering.

Former

IPS officer Surendra Tiwari says that money is sent from abroad to Nepal's bank

accounts. The money is withdrawn in Nepali currency and sent to India. From

here, it is converted into Indian Rupees and sent to Kathmandu. This money is

used for terror funding.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi