Pakistan's name likely to be removed from FATF grey list

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Pakistan’s name likely to be removed from Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list as a Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar will attend the session of FATF in Paris. It is pertinent to mention here that the FATF formally placed Pakistan on the grey list due to 'strategic deficiencies' in its anti-money laundering and terrorism. Hammad Azhar has departed for Paris, France, to attend the next meeting of the FATF – that is scheduled to examine Pakistan’s compliance report for an effective implementation of its 40 recommendations for AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering / Combating Financing of Terrorism). The FATF meeting will discuss steps taken by Pakistan till April 2019 and a decision will be taken whether to exclude Pakistan from the grey list. Measures taken by Pakistan to prevent terrorist financing will also be reviewed in the FATF meeting. Pakistan has already implemented most of the FATF measures, such as banning terrorist organisations. In addition, Pakistan has also taken steps to seize the properties of terrorists and stopped them from doing business. Additional Secretary Finance Sohail Rajput, along with the representatives of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) are also part of the delegation that will attend the meeting on October 14 and 15. The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) earlier this month published its report on money-laundering and terror-financing in Pakistan, which stated Pakistan had complied with 36 of the 40 parameters set by the FATF at the time of the country’s inclusion in the grey list. Based on the technical compliance ratings, the APG reported that Pakistan has fully complied with one parameter, largely complied with nine parameters, and partially complied with 26 of the 40 parameters.