Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Pakistan will not be removed from its ‘grey list’ immediately and a decision in this regard will be taken after an onsite visit.
A statement issued in this regard said that while Pakistan has substantially substantially completed its two action plans, it warrants an on-site visit to verify whether the implementation of the reforms has begun and is being sustained. It also needs to be seen “that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in future”.
“Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list today. It will be removed if the onsite visit finds its actions are sustainable,” said FATF president Marcus Pleyer said. Pleyer further said an onsite inspection would be done before October, and a formal announcement on Pakistan’s removal would follow.
The decision was taken the FATF June 2022 plenary session being held in Germany. The watchdog will continue to monitor the Covid-19 pandemic situation and take a decision on conducting a visit to Pakistan at the earliest.
Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar headed the Pakistani delegation at the FATF plenary meeting held in Berlin between June 14 and 17.
The FATF further said Pakistan’s continued commitment to combatting terrorist financing and money laundering has led to significant progress. “In addition, Pakistan also largely addressed its 2021 action plan ahead of the set time.”
At the last plenary meeting in March, FATF had retained Pakistan in its “grey list” and directed it to do more in investigating and prosecuting senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups for terror financing.
Pakistan was placed in the grey list, or list of countries under increased monitoring, in June 2018 and given a 27-point action plan by FATF to curb terror financing. The country was given another seven-point action plan to counter money laundering last October, after it implemented 26 of the 27 points in the original action plan. FATF concluded during the plenary meet in March that Pakistan implemented 32 of the 34 items in the two action plans.
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