On Friday, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a worldwide organisation that monitors the funding of terrorism and money laundering, stated that Pakistan is ‘no longer under the FATF’s stricter monitoring regime. In order to significantly enhance its AML and CFT (anti-money laundering & counter-terrorist financing) system, the nation would continue to collaborate with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) ‘. To combat money laundering, funding of terrorism, and other associated risks to the integrity of the global financial system, the FATF is an intergovernmental organisation.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, responded to Pakistan’s removal from the FATF’s ‘grey list’. In a tweet, he stated, ‘Pakistan’s removal off the FATF’s grey list is a validation of our persistent efforts over the years. I want to applaud our civil and military leaders as well as all the institutions whose dedication made today’s achievement possible. Congratulations to everyone, Aap sab ko bohat bohat Mubarak’. Congratulation to the people of Pakistan, the foreign minister of Pakistan remarked in a tweet. Pakistan has been formally taken off the FATF’s ‘grey list. Pakistan Zindabad ‘.
Pakistan has been on the grey list since 2018, according to T Raja Kumar, the president of the FATF. Pakistan was required to implement a number of action plan items, and as of now it has been shown that it has done so and has mostly completed all of them. Therefore, we were satisfied that there was high level political commitment on the part of the Pakistani authorities to not only implement the current set of action steps that they must take but also to continue reform after the FATF inspection team travelled to Pakistan, spoke to the authorities, looked around, and verified.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list no longer includes Pakistan. Earlier in the day, rumours abounded that Pakistan will soon be removed off the FATF’s ‘grey list,’ allowing it to try to raise money from outside to improve its economic predicament. The change occurs more than four years after Pakistan was placed on the FATF’s “grey list” for failing to control the danger of money laundering, which may fund corruption and terrorism. The FATF discovered Pakistan’s shortcomings in the legal, financial, regulatory, investigation, prosecution, judicial, and non-government sectors to fight money laundering and prevent terror funding, which is seen as a severe danger to the global financial system.
Our response to media queries on Pakistan and the FATF "Grey List"https://t.co/JDQQMeCMi2 pic.twitter.com/TxgCAQiRMJ
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) October 21, 2022
INDIA’S REACTION
India expressed concern over the lack of action taken against the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of 26/11 in Mumbai, and it added that Pakistan must continue to regularly work with the FATF subgroup to improve its “Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system,” which is equivalent to being on RFU.
In the course of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary in Paris, reports pertaining to Pakistan have been seen. According to our understanding, Pakistan would continue to collaborate with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to strengthen its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terror financing (CFT) systems.
KARACHI FATF RECORD
Between 2012 and 2015, Pakistan was transferred from the FATF’s ‘black list’ (which it had been on since 2009) to the ‘grey list’. They were put on ‘Regular follow-up’ from 2015 to 2018 in 2015 while they were coming off the ‘grey list’. Similar to that, they were on the ‘grey list’ from 2018 to 2022, and sources claim that if the decision was made to remove them from the list, they would be transferred back to RFU.
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