ISLAMABAD: In order to meet the condition of Financial Action Task Force(FATF) regarding the control of terror financing, the Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) has decided to intensify its efforts against over 2,600individuals/assets of banned organisations.
The individuals and assets targeted by FBR so far were linked with variousbanned organizations, including Da’esh (ISIS), AL-Qaida (AQ), Jamatud Dawa(JuD), Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Haqqani Network (HQN) and people affiliated withthe Taliban.
According to official documents, FBR would be ensuring effectiveimplementation of Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFS) against the assets of1,267 and 1,373 designated people and entities associated with bannedorganisations.
To bridge the gaps identified by Asia Pacific Joint Group (APJG) inPakistan’s performance towards 40 recommendations in October 2019, FBR wasalso taking steps to meet the assigned targets before the next review inFeb 2020.
Under the target of counter-terror financing, FBR was presently identifyingpeople and entities acting on behalf of or at the direction of designatedentities. It was also tracing and freezing their assets (moveable andimmoveable) besides preventing the raising and moving of funds as well asany activities designed to evade effective implementation.
Moreover, the FBR-Inland Revenue, customs and excise departments were alsoidentifying properties of listed terrorist entities and individuals whileapplying seizure to all such properties.
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As per the documents, FBR has so far identified properties of 84 proscribedpeople from their tax declarations. It has also forwarded the informationto the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Ministry of Interior (Mol) throughFinancial Monitoring Unit (FMU) for further action under Anti MoneyLaundering Act (AML Act), 2010.
As the next progress report on Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) of FATF’sAsia Pacific Group was due in the month of February 2020, FBR-IR wasassigned various tasks including the monitoring of terror financing, cashcouriers, non-profit organizations (NPOs), supervision and regulation ofreal estate agents and people dealing in gems, jewellery and other preciousmetals.
To bridge the gaps before the release of next MER by the group, a separateFATF cell at FBR was working on the assigned targets. The sub-groups/cellsof concerned departments were also reporting to the National FATFCoordination Committee, set up by Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensureexecution of all FATF-related tasks till December 1.
