Pakistan in global financial watchdog FATF’s ‘grey list’

› In 2018, during the FATF session in Paris, it was agreed that Pakistan will be included in the grey list in June 2018. What is being reported in media recently is nothing new MOHAMMAD FAISAL, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Pakistan on its watch list for not doing enough to counter terror financing during a meeting in Paris, officials said on Thursday.

The listing was done late on Wednesday during a plenary meeting of the global financial watchdog. Pakistan’s caretaker finance minister Shamshad Akhtar is attending the meeting with a delegation.

Pakistan was included in FATF’s “grey list” after it submitted a 26-point action plan to cut off funding for terrorists and groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council, including Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar-eTaiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani Network and Taliban.

The FATF had earlier put Pakistan on its grey list between 2012 and 2015.

As the 37-member FATF began assessing Pakistan’s action plan that will be implemented over a period of 15 months beginning next January, the country’s delegation highlighted the steps taken by Islamabad to curb money laundering and terror financing.

Though some reports suggested Pakistan had tried to avert its inclusion in the grey list, sources said a decision in this regard had already been taken during the FATF’s plenary meeting in February. The FATF had only been waiting for Pakistan’s action plan before going ahead with the listing.

Following the decision at the February meeting, Pakistan was asked to prepare an action plan to address the watchdog’s concerns. The plan was completed following negotiations between Pakistan and FATF members, and Islamabad will work “towards effective implementation of the action plan while staying in the grey list”, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said. Islamabad will have to deliver on the first goal under the action plan by next January and complete all 26 actions by September 2019.