Despite the strong “Indian lobby,” Pakistan hopes that a watchdog forglobal money-laundering will not make a “politically motivated” decision atthe next meeting later this month and delete the country s name from theFATF gray list.
Pakistan’s anxious eye is on the four-day virtual meeting of the FinancialAction Task Force a Paris-based global money-laundering watchdog startingon Feb. 22, which is expected to decide whether or not to remove Islamabadfrom its gray list.
The country has been on the FATF radar since June 2018, when it was placedon its gray list for terrorist financing and money laundering risks afteran assessment of the country s financial system and security mechanism.Since then, Pakistan has been escaping the watchdog s financial crimeblacklist with the support of Turkey, China, and Malaysia.
In October last year, the 36-nation watchdog said that Pakistan has”successfully complied with 21 out of 27 points of the action plan butdecided to keep the country on its gray list until February 2021.”
Pakistan hopes to get off FATF’s gray listlink
A recent report by the EU DisinfoLab has exposed a vast network of hundredsof “fake media” outlets serving “Indian interests.”
New Delhi has played its role in pressuring the FATF member states toensure that Pakistan stayed on the gray list.
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The Brussels-based EU DisinfoLab has uncovered a network of 265 coordinatedfake local media outlets in 65 countries “serving Indian interests” and”undermining Pakistan,” as well as multiple dubious think tanks and NGOs.
Last week Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the Senate in apositive tone that he was expecting a decision “in favor of Pakistan.”
Qureshi said they had made “substantial progress” on the remaining sixpoints.
In September, the country’s parliament amended 14 laws relating to itslegal system to comply with the FATF requirements while already satisfyingthe watchdog on 13 other points.
