After the flood, the grey list is now a national emergency

Nepal is about to ask the world for billions, but the world is also asking whether Nepal can keep dirty money out.

Nepal is holding out its hand after the devastating Bhotekoshi flood. At a recent event in Malaysia where Nepal presented its case for progress on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, the assessors, the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), handed out a poor report card. These two stories, flooding destruction and the grey list, are running side by side in our newspapers. A country that wants the world to trust it with billions must first show it can stop illicit funding. Unfortunately, so far, the progress has been subpar.