DUBAI: Pakistan may stay on the ‘Grey List’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) next month despite active support of its close ally China and tactical support of some Western countries, foreign media quoting diplomatic sources said.
The FATF is expected to extend the duration of the ‘Grey List’ for another six months to ensure that Pakistan gets enough time to adopt legislative measures to restructure its banking system according to the best international practices for curbing money-laundering and terror financing.
However, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is confident of joining the ‘White List’ of FATF in February, but experts and diplomatic sources said Pakistan will be given enough time to achieve 100 percent compliance on terror financing and money-laundering.
“The country should, in principle, be taken off the Grey List’ as it has made considerable progress on the requirements of the FATF,” Qureshi said.
On the other hand, Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, who led a Pakistani delegation during three-day talks with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Beijing, said on Saturday the government has worked “very hard” to get the country off the watchdog’s grey list.
Taking to Twitter, he said: “It is premature to comment/ speculate on the decision that FATF members shall take in the plenary in Feb.”
It is premature to comment/ speculate on the decision that FATF members shall take in the plenary in Feb.
Pak Authorities have worked very hard over the months & I feel we have made significant progress in our AML/CFT efforts. We remain committed to sustaining this momentum. 1/2— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) January 25, 2020
We also hope the attempts by certain quarters to politicise the FATF proceedings would be rejected. 2/2
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) January 25, 2020
“Pak Authorities have worked very hard over the months & I feel we have made significant progress in our AML/CFT efforts. We remain committed to sustaining this momentum.”
The minister expressed the optimism that that attempts by “certain quarters to politicise the FATF proceedings would be rejected.”
At a FATF meeting held in Beijing last week, Pakistan submitted its compliance report and got support from the FATF current chair China and satisfied a few Western countries about its recent action taken for FATF compliance.
However, it is still a difficult task to secure 12 more votes out of 39 to exit the ‘Grey List’ and move to the ‘White List’, the sources said. In recent meetings of FATF, Pakistan has got support of Malaysia and Turkey besides China.
A FATF plenary slated for Feb 17 will evaluate implementation on a 27-point action plan, the sources said. They added the watchdog’s mutual evaluation meeting will take place in August.
Pakistan had sent a 650-page review report to the FATF on January 8, 2020 in response to 150 questions raised by the FATF.
جیسے ہی ایف اے ٹی ایف سے پاکستان کے لئے اچھی خبریں آنے کی امید ظاہر ہوئی پاکستان میں میں بیٹھے کچھ بد دیانت اور گٹر صحافیوں نے پاکستان کو نقصان پہنچانے کے لئے منفی پروپیگنڈہ شروع کردیا تاکہ پاکستان گرے لسٹ سے نہ نکل سکے۔ لعنت ہے ان بیغیرتوں پر