ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is likely to be removed from FATF greylist, sourceshave revealed.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary and Working Group meetingsto be held in Orlando on June 16-21, 2019 are likely to decide whether toremove Pakistan from the grey-list or downgrade it further to theblack-list based on the assessment report of Asia Pacific Group (APG),according to a report published in* Business Recorder.*
During the Asia Pacific-Joint Group face-to-face meeting in Guangzhou,China, on May 15-16, Pakistan presented its case and presented all theactions that it had taken in compliance with FATF’s regulations.
Based on this the APG group will prepare a report which will be presentedat the Plenary and Working Group meeting at Orlando, Florida.
“Pakistan has taken enough steps with regard to money laundering andcombating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in compliance with the FATArequirements to be removed from the grey list,” an official said.
According to the report, the officials told that efforts are underway toimprove diplomatic ties with member states to get a favourable vote andcounteract the Indian lobby towards downgrading Pakistan to the blacklist.
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They further claimed that there was informal acknowledgement in the APGmeeting in China that Pakistan has made sufficient progress on the FATFAction Plan.
The official said that India was still co-chairing the APG meeting despitePakistan’s reservations and demands for replacement.
It is pertinent to mention that India has been aggressively lobbying to getPakistan downgraded from the greylist to the blacklist. And Pakistan hadraised concerns over the FATF’s decision to appoint India as Joint Group’sco-chair, saying the decision would undermine the authenticity of thewatchdog.
Earlier in June 2018, Pakistan was placed in the grey-list.
