Pak warned of being blacklisted

A team of global experts has expressed dissatisfaction at Pakistan’s compliance with international best practices to counter terror financing and warned the country is unlikely to be taken off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) watch list with the current pace of reforms.

The team from the Asia Pacific Group (APG), which examined Pakistan’s adherence to the guidelines of the Paris-based FATF during an 11-day visit, cited unwillingness of local agencies to implement reforms or share information, Dawn newspaper reported.

The delegation shared its final findings with authorities from relevant Pakistani agencies on Friday, highlighting deficiencies in law, regulations and mechanisms, and weaknesses of various institutions. It noted that at the pace the Pakistan agencies are working to address the issues, it is unlikely the country would get taken off the grey list, to which it was added in June.

The team’s Friday meeting was the culmination of long consultations with the ministries of interior, finance, foreign affairs and law, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), National CounterTerrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue, National Accountability Bureau, AntiNarcotics Force, Financial Monitoring Unit, Central Directorate of National Savings, and provincial counter-terrorism departments.

The APG delegation told authorities it will submit a draft report on its findings to Pakistan by November 19. Pakistan will have to submit its response within 15 days of receiving this report, on the basis of which APG will submit its interim report to FATF in Paris.

The APG team will visit Pakistan again in March-April 2019 for another “on-site mutual evaluation”. The report of that evaluation will be made public in July 2019. Pakistani officials were told in “clear terms” the country will have to make “robust and significant progress” before the next review in March-April if it wants to move off the grey list, or else it will fall into the black list, the report said.

ISLAMABAD: