Pakistan to remain FATF’s Grey List: FATF

KARACHI: Pakistan’s plea to remove its name from Grey List of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been turned down here on Friday.

FATF has acknowledged the work regarding the action plan, however, it said that Pakistan would remained in the Grey List to address strategic counter terrorist financing-related deficiencies.

Pakistan was included in the Grey List in June 2018 to curb money laundering and terror financing. However, the country has successfully fulfilled most the difficult conditions during last three years.

According to the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) Co-Chairs, “Since June 2018 when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with FATF and APG to strengthen it AML/CFT regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies, Pakistan’s continued political commitment has led to significant progress across a comprehensive CFT action plan.”

“The FATF encourages Pakistan to continue to make progress to address as soon as possible the one remaining CFT (countering the financing of terrorism)-related item by demonstrating that TF (terror financing) investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN designated terrorist groups.”

It said that it recognises Pakistan’s progress and efforts to address and strengthen its anti-money laundering (AML) and CFT regime, and the country’s continued political commitment has led to significant progress across a comprehensive CFT action plan.

“Since February 2021, Pakistan has made progress to complete two of the three remaining action items on demonstrating that effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions are imposed for TF convictions and that Pakistan’s targeted financial sanctions regime was being used effectively to targeted terrorist assets. Pakistan has now completed 26 of the 27 action items in its 2018 action plan.”

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