Pakistan says it is committed to complying with FATF action plan

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to continue strengthening the AML/CFT regime in line with global standards and comply with the FATF's action plan.

The statement from the Ministry of Finance was issued after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) appreciated Pakistan for the significant progress made by the country on the entire action plan.

The plenary meetings of the global watchdog were held virtually from 22-25 February 2021, where its members discussed a range of topics relating to Pakistan’s progress.

Pakistan’s delegation in the FATF Plenary was led by Muhammad Hammad Azhar, the Chairman of the FATF Coordination Committee / Federal Minister for Industries and Production, and attended by senior officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NACTA, the FMU, the National FATF Secretariat and other key stakeholders.

The ministry, in its statement, said that Pakistan has undertaken enormous work to strengthen its anti-money laundering regime and address the strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies.

In addition to the acknowledgment by the FATF in its plenary statement where it said Pakistan has made significant progress on the entire action plan by addressing 24 out of the 27 items in the action plan, Pakistan has also made notable progress in the remaining 3 action items which also stand partially addressed.

“As of now, all the 10 action items pertaining to the financial sector and border controls have been addressed. In relation to Terrorism Financing (TF) investigations and prosecutions, 6 of the 8 action items have been addressed, whereas, for targeted financial sanctions, 8 of the 9 action items also stand addressed,” the ministry said.

It added that the progress on the remaining 3 action items is well underway with significant progress made so far.

Pakistan to remain on the grey list until June

On Thursday, the FATF said Pakistan will remain under "increased monitoring" when it comes to terror financing, therefore, it will remain on the grey list until June 2021.

Speaking via a live video link, the FATF President Dr. Marcus Pleyer said that while FATF recognizes Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts, there are still some serious deficiencies that the country needs to address.

"Out of the 27 conditions of the action plan, three still need to be addressed," he said. "I recognize Pakistan's efforts, and out of the six tasks that it had to complete, three had been done, but it substantially needs to work on the remaining three in terms of terror financing."

The Player stressed that Pakistan must continue to work on the items that it has committed to and make sure that it meets all the requirements, adding that FATF will once again review Pakistan's efforts in June 2021.

Replying to a question related to terrorists' prosecution in Pakistan, he said that the body is "not an investigative organization," and that it "does not look at single incidents but takes a look at the entire framework" [to decide a country's status].

He said that the risk of Pakistan being put on the blacklist was still there and that the country must continue to work on outstanding action points to fix its financial monitoring mechanisms.

"The deadline for Pakistan [to meet the 27 conditions] had expired, that is why the body had urged Pakistani authorities to ramp up their efforts in dealing with the items."

Back in October 2020, the FATF had acknowledged that of the 27 conditions that were put forth to Pakistan, 21 had been fulfilled while six were left.

At that time, Dr. Pleyer had said that once the remaining six conditions are fulfilled, an "on-site visit" will be approved under which a team from the FATF will visit the country for the next review.

"Our discussions are confidential the members decided by consensus that Pakistan needs to complete these six items for an onsite visit to be granted.