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 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
procedures, a technical evaluation will be sent to Pakistan. We will make all efforts to ensure this team completes its work before the October 2022 plenary cycle,” Khar said in a video message, speaking in Urdu.
Supporters of ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Friday mounted a sustained social media campaign, claiming initially that Pakistan had exited the grey list, and crediting his government for the forward movement at FATF. Pleyer acknowledged Pakistani authorities had done “a lot of work” and substantially completed the two action plans at a technical level. Over the past few months, Pakistan demonstrated it is pursuing terrorist financing investigations and prosecutions against senior leaders of UN-designated terror groups and money laundering investigations and prosecutions in line with its risk profile, he said. “The reforms implemented by Pakistan are good for the stability and security of the country and the region. They will ensure that Pakistan’s authorities can more effectively tackle money laundering and funding of terrorist groups,” Pleyer said.
A statement issued by FATF said that since June 2018, Pakistan’s political commitment to combat terror financing and money laundering has led to “significant progress”. The statement added: “In addition, Pakistan also largely addressed its 2021 action plan ahead of the set times.” FATF said the substantial completion of the two action plans by Pakistan “warrants an onsite visit to verify that the implementation of Pakistan’s reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place.