Placement of Pakistan on FATF blacklist for terror financing ruled out

Finance Minister Asad Umar has ruled out the possibility of placement of Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) blacklist, telling the Senate that the negotiated action plan with the FATF would be implemented.

Answering a calling attention notice in the Senate, he said September 2019 was the deadline for compliance, observing that Pakistan would finally be out of the grey-list.
He said 27 deficiencies in five broad categories had been identified in Pakistan’s anti-money laundering and terror financing regime, adding that the basic areas identified were currency smuggling, hawala and financing to proscribed organisations.
Action plan negotiated with the anti-terror financing watchdog will be implemented, Asad Umar tells Senate
He told the house that he saw as an opportunity what many regarded as a challenge. “There is nothing we cannot comply with. FATF or no FATF, it is in our own national interest,” he remarked.
He said a national executive committee had been formed to deal with the issue which included representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other relevant institutions. He said the first review meeting of the committee would be held on Sept 8.
He, however, said that Pakistan had its reservations over the procedure adopted to place it on the grey-list. Regretting that it was an exceptional treatment, he said even friendly countries did not support Pakistan.
He said it was not for the first time that Pakistan was facing such a situation, adding that the country had earlier been placed on the grey-list twice — in 2008 and 2012. He said though placement on the grey-list was a negative signal, it did not mean trade or banking sanctions in near future.
The finance minister said a team of FATF visited Pakistan from Aug 13 to 16, but the visit was not linked with the review of implementation status. He said the first review meeting would be held in Jakarta on Sept 11 and 12.