‘Baseless’: FO rejects reports of Saudi Arabia voting against Pakistan in FATF

ISLAMABAD – The Foreign Office has categorically rejected the “false and baseless” media reports claiming Saudi Arabia voted against Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary.

“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong fraternal ties and the two countries have always cooperated with each other on all matters of bilateral, regional and international importance,” said the spokesperson.

The FO statement comes amid social media reports that Saudi Arabia has voted against Pakistan at the FATF plenary that began yesterday (Oct 22).

Callng the report as “malicious propaganda,” the statement clarified that Pakistan greatly values its relations with Saudi Arabia. “FATF will announce its assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the Action Plan and the future course of action after conclusion of its Plenary Meeting,” it added.

In February 2020, the FATF plenary granted Pakistan a grace period of four months to complete its 27-point action plan against money-laundering and terror financing (ML&TF) after it noted that the country was compliant on 14 points.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018.