ISLAMABAD – Britain has offered technical assistance to Pakistan over theissue of the Financial Action Task Force greylist.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew has appreciated the steps taken byPakistan after its name was placed on Financial Action Task Force (FATF)grey-list.
“We have offered technical assistance to Pakistan for tackling thegrey-list matter,” Drew said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad.
He said that Britain will continue to take interest in the stability ofPakistan, adding that resolution of Kashmir issues will be beneficial forboth Pakistan and India. He said that Pakistan is being portrayed byinternational media in the wrong way.
In June, the FATF formally placed Pakistan on the grey-list due to‘strategic deficiencies’ in its anti-money laundering and terroristfinancing regime.
Pakistan’s name was placed on the list despite the efforts made by thecountry to curb the illegal channels of transactions.
The highly anticipated decision was taken by the FATF Plenary that met inParis from June 24 to 29, 2018. The global body took the decision on thebasis of a monitoring report of the International Cooperation Review Group(ICRG).
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Meanwhile, the newly-elected government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)has vowed that Pakistan would finally be out of the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) grey-list as September 2019 was the deadline for compliancewith the body.
Answering a calling attention notice in the Senate, Finance Minister AsadUmar affirmed that the negotiated action plan with the FATF would beimplemented.
The recently appointed finance minister elaborated that 27 deficiencies infive broad categories had been identified in Pakistan’s anti-moneylaundering and terror financing regime, adding that the basic sectorsidentified were currency smuggling, hawala and financing tooutlawed organisations.
The minister expressed that there was nothing we [Pakistan] could notcomply with, saying FATF or no FATF, it was in our own national interest.
The lawmaker apprised the House that a national executive committee hadbeen formed to deal with the issue which included representatives from theSecurities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and otherrelevant institutions.
