Paris: The Financial Action Task Force has retained Pakistan in the gray list in its June 2022 meeting as well. The global money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog said in a statement on Friday that Pakistan will continue to be on the ‘grey list’ of countries under the supervision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). FATF says that Pakistan has not fulfilled the conditions regarding terror financing and money laundering. FATF President Marcus Pleier said that one of our teams will visit Pakistan before October to examine its claims of meeting the onsite conditions, after which a decision will be taken to take Pakistan out of the gray list.
In its June 2022 plenary session, the FATF said, ‘Pakistan has substantially completed its 2 action plans, which include 34 items, and to verify that Pakistan’s AML (Anti-Money Laundering) And CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) reforms have started and are ongoing. Our team will visit onsite to test the political commitment required to implement and maintain reforms in the future. This organization monitors money laundering, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and terror financing all over the world.
Pakistan has been on FATF gray list for 4 years
Pakistan was also not relieved in the FATF review held in October 2018, 2019, 2020, April 2021, October 2021, and March 2022. During this, terrorist organizations in Pakistan have received financial help from abroad and domestically. Iran and North Korea are included in the black list of FATF, due to which these two countries have a lot of trouble in getting investment from outside and doing international business. According to the FATF, 206 representatives of global networks and observer organizations attended the meeting this time. Among them were the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
What is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)?
The Financial Action Task Force is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the G7 group of countries in Paris, the capital of France. Its task is to monitor money laundering, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the financing of terrorism internationally. In addition, FATF also promotes the effective implementation of legal, regulatory, and operational measures on the subject of finance. The decision-making body of the FATF is called the FATF Plenary. Its meeting is held 3 times a year.
