Headway, but no immediate FATF reprieve for Pak

NEW DELHI : The Financial Action Task Force on Friday did not immediately remove Pakistan from its “grey list”, but said it will conduct an onsite visit to ascertain if steps taken by the country to curb terror financing and money laundering are “sustainable and irreversible”.

The multilateral watchdog’s announcement came at the conclusion of a four-day plenary meeting in Berlin, with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) president Marcus Pleyer of Germany saying Pakistan had “largely addressed” all 34 action items from two action plans given to the country to crack down on financing of terror groups and money laundering.

“Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list today. The country will be removed from the list if it successfully passes the onsite visit,” Pleyer told a media briefing after the meeting, referring to the list of countries under increased monitoring. Pleyer said FATF recommended the onsite visit to check that “Pakistan’s reforms are in place and can be sustained into the future”. He added: “The purpose of the onsite [visit] is to verify that everything on the ground is really completed and to check whether it is sustainable and irreversible.”

FATF placed Pakistan in the grey list in June 2018 and gave it a 27-point action plan to curb terror financing. The country was subsequently given another seven-point action plan to counter money laundering last October, after it implemented 26 of the 27 points in the original action plan.

Inclusion in the grey list means a country has to swiftly resolve strategic deficiencies in its procedures to curb terror financing and money laundering within an agreed time frame, and is subject to increased monitoring of all financial transactions. The listing of Pakistan has added to its current economic problems by impeding investments and through greater scrutiny of its financial system.

Pakistan mounted a high-profile effort to convince FATF about its efforts to curb terror financing, with minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar leading a delegation that participated in the plenary in Berlin.

“With this, the process for Pakistan to exit the grey list, according to FATF’s procedures, has started. According to those