Islamabad is on the list of failing to stop money laundering, leading to terror financing
Islamabad is on the list of failing to stop money laundering, leading to terror financing
According to a media report on Saturday, the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog FATF has retained Pakistan on its terrorism financing “grey list” and asked Islamabad to address the remaining loopholes in its financial system at the earliest. asked for.
Pakistan has been on the gray list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since June 2018 for failing to prevent money laundering that has led to terror financing, and was given an action plan to be completed by October 2019 .
Since then, the country has remained on that list due to its failure to comply with FATF orders.
Plenary on Friday decided against leaving Pakistan out of the category despite the country getting 32 action points out of 34 dawn Newspaper reported.
However, Pakistan’s strong progress on its global commitments to fight financial crimes was lauded in the concluding session of its Hybrid Plenary Meeting, which noted that Pakistan adopted the FATF’s 2018 Action Plan and 26 out of 27 out of seven actions. has completed. Items of the Asia Pacific Group’s 2021 Action Plan on Money Laundering (APG).
The plenary noted that since June 2018 – when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering/Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Its continued political commitment has led to significant progress in a comprehensive CFT action plan to combat the regime and address its strategic counter-loopholes related to terrorist financing, the report said.
The FATF encourages Pakistan to continue making progress in addressing them as soon as possible, to demonstrate that terrorism financing investigations and prosecutions continue to target senior leaders and commanders of terrorist groups designated by the United Nations.
In response to additional deficiencies identified later in Pakistan’s 2019 APG Mutual Evaluation Report in June 2021, Pakistan provided further high-level commitments to address these strategic deficiencies in accordance with a new action plan, which primarily focused on money Focuses on combating laundering.
“Since June 2021, Pakistan has taken rapid steps towards reforming its AML/CFT regime and has completed six of the seven action items before the expiration of any relevant deadline, demonstrating that Including that it is amplifying the effect of sanctions by designating individuals and entities for the United Nations to “prevent and confiscate proceeds of crime consistent with Pakistan’s risk profile,” the FATF said.
“Pakistan should continue to work by demonstrating a positive and sustained tendency to pursue a complex, one remaining item in its 2021 action plan.” [money laundering] investigation and prosecution,” it said.
Officials said Pakistan has now set a target of fully complying with the 2021 action plan to combat anti-money laundering and terror financing by the end of January 2023.
The country had two concurrent action plans with 34 action points, 30 of which were addressed either completely or largely to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
APG’s most recent action plan for 2021 focused largely on money laundering.
The completion of the APG’s Action Plan for the Effectiveness of AML/CFT is also a structural benchmark of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the end of March.
Recently, the IMF asked Pakistan to complete the last remaining item in the 2018 AML/CFT Action Plan on the effectiveness of terrorist financing investigations and prosecution of senior leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups, and identified in the APG’s mutual assessment. Asked to rectify the shortcomings immediately. Report under the 2021 action plan.
Pakistan has so far avoided being included in the blacklist with the help of close allies like China, Turkey and Malaysia.
The FATF is an intergovernmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
The FATF has 39 members, including two regional organizations – the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council. India is a member of the FATF Consultative and its Asia Pacific Group.