When the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meets in Paris from October 18 to 21, Pakistan is expected to be removed from its ‘grey list’. According to well placed sources, India Today is in compliance with all 34 of the FATF action items, of which 7 were connected to money laundering and 27 were dedicated to preventing the funding of terrorism.
A 15-member FATF team visited Pakistan for five days (from August 29 to September 2) and met with officials from the FIA, FBR, the state bank, the finance ministry, the foreign office, and other institutions with concerns about Pakistan’s financial system. The team also prepared an on-site report on Pakistan. The team’s results, which were presented and debated during the plenary session and included participants from the UK, US, Germany, France, Australia, EU, Asia Pacific Group (APG), and other nations.
Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs, will serve as the delegation’s leader. Officials with access to the processes are quite certain that they will be removed from the list. The deadline may be pushed out to February, though, if certain countries argue forcefully that worries about the country’s ongoing problem with money laundering and cash couriers (hawala) warrant such a postponement.
Even though sources claim Pakistan will be moved to ‘Frequent Follow-Up’ (RFU), which would force Pakistan to provide regular updates to the FATF even if they are not on the ‘Enhanced Monitoring List’ or the ‘grey list,’ it won’t be an easy ride for Islamabad should they come off the ‘grey list’. A follow-up procedure is in place, according to the FATF website, ‘to focus on nations which do not make sufficient progress in resolving their risks and shortcomings, and to apply pressure on such countries to improve their performance’.
FOLLOW-UP PROCESS
Two types of processes should be included in the FATF and FSRB follow-up procedures: Regular follow-up is the default monitoring method, based on a routine reporting system enhanced follow-up, which entails a more thorough follow-up procedure, for nations with serious shortcomings or nations not moving forward quickly enough. The Plenary should take into account a country’s degree of technical compliance as well as its effectiveness when determining whether to put it in enhanced follow-up.
From 2009 to 2012, Pakistan was on the FATF ‘black list,’ then from 2012 to 2015, it was transferred to the ‘grey list’. When they were removed off the ‘grey list’ in 2015, they were placed on ‘Regular follow-up’ from 2015 to 2018. Similarly, they were on the ‘grey list’ from 2018 to 2022, and according to the source, if the decision was made to remove them from the list, they would be transferred to RFU once more.
PAK FATF BACKGROUND:
- 2009-2012 – Black List
- 2012-2015 – Grey List
- 2015-2018 – RFU
- 2018-2022 – Grey List
- 2022- RFU
New Delhi will make every effort to guarantee Pakistan’s surveillance continues since there hasn’t been much action on terror networks and terrorists operating out of Pakistan who target India. ‘ We are already observing Pak activities wrt training camps and increase in number of terrorists over the LOC,’ a senior intelligence official stated. The officer stated, ‘We are gathering information to be presented before FATF in 2024 to prove how they continue to support terrorism and that the State is a terrorist inspirer’.
(Source: FATF website)
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