Berlin
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday that Pakistan had met all 34 items on two separate action plans, adding that the watchdog will now schedule an on-site visit to verify the implementation and sustainability of the country’s money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures before removing it from its increased monitoring list, also known as the grey list.
According to a statement by the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, Pakistan has substantially completed all items on both its action plans, which showed that necessary political commitment was in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future.
While announcing the watchdog’s decision, FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer acknowledged the reforms implemented by the country, saying “they are good for the stability and security of the country”.
He, however, added that “Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list today. The country will be removed from the list if it successfully passes the on-site visit”. Pleyer said Pakistan will have to ensure [during the visit] that it effectively tackled money laundering and funding of terrorist groups.
“Pakistan demonstrated that terror financing investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups and that there is a positive upwards trend in the number of money laundering investigations and prosecutions being pursued in Pakistan, in line with Pakistan’s risk profile,” the watchdog’s written statement said.
Pakistan also largely addressed its 2021 action plan ahead of the set times, it added.
Soon after the development, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar congratulated the country, saying the international community had “unanimously” acknowledged the country’s efforts.
“Our success is the result of four years of a challenging journey. Pakistan reaffirms resolve to continue the momentum and give our economy a boost,” she said.
In a video message, Khar said “now our process of exiting the grey list as per the FATF procedure starts, according to which a technical evaluation team will be sent to Pakistan.
“It is our full effort that this team completes its work before October’s plenary cycle and we have told them that we will ensure their comfort and ease,” she said, adding that the process would come to an end in October.
Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri also praised the development as “good news”.
She said Pakistan had covered a lot of ground in confronting money laundering and countering terror financing through implementing the action plans.
“The engagement with FATF has led to the development of a strong AML/CFT framework in Pakistan and resulted in improving of our systems to cope with future challenges,” she said.
The FATF decision came during a press conference after the conclusion of a four-day plenary session that began in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday.
Delegates representing 206 FATF members and observers — including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units — attended the plenary session.
Diplomatic sources earlier told Dawn that China and some other allies were quietly working to get Pakistan off the grey list latest during the latest plenary session.
Recent reports in the international media also mentioned this “quiet lobbying”, led by China, and one Indian media outlet reported that the plenary session “is likely to decide to move Pakistan out from the list of countries under increased monitoring, commonly known as its grey list”.
Several politicians, mostly from the PTI, and journalists posted on social media today that the FATF had removed Pakistan from the grey list. However, at the time, Khar, who was leading Pakistan’s delegation in Berlin, cautioned that prejudging the outcome and speculative reporting should be avoided.
She pointed out that the plenary meetings were still ongoing and the FATF would issue a statement tonight after their conclusion.
She added that a press conference would be held at the foreign ministry on Saturday (tomorrow) in this regard.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also called for an end to speculations about the plenary session’s outcomes, terming them inappropriate.
