FATF blacklist: Pakistan’s fate hangs in balance with serious threats
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Islamabad, Oct 20, IRNA – The Financial Action Task Force has retained Pakistan on its grey list for four more months, but, Ministry of Finance reaffirms commitment to FATF action plan, local media said.
The decision was taken at the end of the FATF meeting that was held in Paris from October 13 to October 18. Pakistan has been given till February 2020 to fully implement the FATF’s 27-point action plan.
Representatives from 206 countries and jurisdictions around the world took part in the meeting. The Pakistani delegation was led by the Minister for Economic Affairs, Hammad Azhar.
“Despite a high level commitment by Pakistan to fix these weaknesses, Pakistan has not made enough progress,” Xiangmin Liu, president of the FATF, said in Paris.
This is for the first time since February last year that the global money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog has warned that it could blacklist Pakistan.
The global watchdog warned Pakistan of action in case significant and sustainable progress is not made across the full range of action plan by the next plenary scheduled for February 2020.
The statement of the FATF said the action could include the FATF calling on its members and urging all jurisdictions to advise their financial institutions to give special attention to business relations and transactions with Pakistan.
“To date, Pakistan has only largely addressed five of 27 action items, with varying levels of progress made on the rest of the action plan,” the statement further said.
While noting recent improvements, the FATF again expressed serious concerns with the overall lack of progress by Pakistan to address its terror financing risks, including remaining deficiencies in demonstrating a sufficient understanding of Pakistan’s transnational terror financing risks, and more broadly, the country’s failure to complete its action plan in line with the agreed timelines.
In 2012, Pakistan was placed on the grey list and remained till 2015. The country was put on the list again on June 29, 2018.
Pakistan was given 15 months for implementation of the 27-point action plan, with a warning that in case of failure the country would be added to the blacklist — a list of the countries branded as uncooperative and tax havens for terror funding.
Soon after the FATF announcement, the finance ministry in a statement reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to implementing the FATF action plan.
