FATF decides to keep Pakistan on grey list till next review

PARIS (92 News) – The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to keep Pakistan on the grey list till the next revie.

Addressing a press conference after its five-day plenary meeting on Friday, FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer said, "Pakistan has made significant progress and it has largely addressed 26 out of 27 measures."

He said that the action plan on financial terrorism still needed to be addressed which concerned the "investigation and prosecution of senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups".

Dr Marcus Pleyer said that all action plan items needed to be addressed and goals fulfilled for countries to exit the grey list.

To a question whether Pakistan would be delisted after addressing the single remaining item on the original action plan or if the five additional items added by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) would also need to be addressed, he said: "As soon as this last remaining item of the [original] action plan is largely addressed, the members will decide whether they will grant an onsite [assessment] for this action plan. Usually once an onsite [assessment] has been successfully completed, the membership can decide on delisting a country.

"But in this case we have a parallel action plan with all the action items in the second action plan. Then Pakistan must also largely complete all the items on this action plan and then there will be a separate onsite [assessment] to decide on this action plan.

"So the delisting will not occur before both action plans are completed and two onsite [assessments] have been granted and successfully completed and have shown that the improvements are sustainable before the FATF members decide on delisting."