Pakistan to start action plan to curb terror financing before June Country unlikely to be placed on FATF watch list, says official
“We are fighting terrorism not to please the US, but for our own benefit,” he said.
Meanwhile, a top Pakistani official told Arab News that Pakistan has not been placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s “gray list” during its meeting in Paris in the past few days.
“We will be placed on the gray list in June,” the official said who was representing Pakistan in the meeting in Paris.
He said that Pakistan’s foreign policy has been successful in heading off the motion co-sponsored by the US that was seeking to place Islamabad on the so-called gray list immediately.
The government official also clarified: “There is no chance of placing Pakistan on the blacklist even after June.” He said Pakistan will be placed on the gray list only if a joint action plan with the FATF is not reached in June or Pakistan fails to cooperate with the task force.
“The main objection of the FATF members to Pakistan was about the implementation of its anti-money laundering laws,” the official said. “We are going to address this concern of the international community too through a cogent mechanism.”
Asif Ezdi, a former Pakistan ambassador to Germany, termed the FATF action against Pakistan a political move pushed by the US and some Western countries.
“This is a warning for us,” he told Arab News. “We need to review our certain policies regarding terrorist financing to forcefully present our case at international forums.”
However, he defended Pakistan’s foreign policy, saying: “We are competing against powerful countries of the world with limited resources. Our ambassadors have been doing their best to highlight the achievements of Pakistan in the war against terror at international forums.”
Pakistan was on the FATF watch list from 2012 to 2015.
Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a renowned economist and former economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance, said the cost of doing business in Pakistan would increase significantly if Pakistan were placed on the FATF gray list in June.
“The implementation of anti-money laundering and terror-financing laws has been strengthened worldwide and this will impact Pakistan negatively if placed on the gray list,” he said.
Pakistan’s credit rating would be downgraded, the transaction cost of doing business will increase and foreign direct investment will get hampered as an immediate impact of being on the gray list, he said.
Khan said Pakistan was in the International Monetary Fund program and also floating bonds in the international market to generate funds while being on the gray list during 2012-15, but “this will not be possible now, given the international situation.”
According to a statement issued by the FATF at the conclusion of its session on Friday, Pakistan does not feature on the list of the countries with strategic deficiencies posing a risk to the international financial system.
The list now features Ethiopia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and Tunisia, while Bosnia and Herzegovina have been moved to the white list.
The FATF is a UN-sanctioned inter-governmental body established in July 1989 by a Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Paris. Its objectives are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
The FATF currently comprises 35 members and two regional organizations, representing most major financial centers in all parts of the globe along with observer countries, organizations and associate members.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday, while talking to the media, that Pakistan has made all-out efforts to combat terrorism and will continue doing so.