ORLANDO – The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has urged Pakistan to swiftly complete the promised action plan by October 2019.
FATF in a statement issued post-meeting late Friday, further suggested at least ten points for Pakistan to “continue working on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies”.
The 10 new points suggested Pakistan take adequate action to combat terror-financing, increasing the supervision of cases on a risk-sensitive basis, strengthening the supervision of illegal money or value transfer services (MVTS), improving the coordination on provincial and federal levels.
It noted that Pakistan had to accomplish its tasks for the Assigned Action Plan by January 2019.
FATF will review Pakistan’s performance again in October 2019.
The new suggestions also urged Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to identify, investigate, and target designated persons, cash couriers and their related risk for terror-financing.
In Florida meeting, FATF was informed about fake bank accounts, suspicious remittance, and cancellation of banned organizations’ bank registration along with several other steps in the banking sector.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan managed to garner much-needed support from three member states of the FATF to avoid being placed on its blacklist, foiling India’s bid.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/pakistan-foils-indias-fatf-blacklist-move/
Islamabad has been on the global money laundering watchdog’s radar since June 2018, when it was placed on a grey list for terrorist financing and money laundering risks after an assessment of the country’s financial system and security mechanism.
Turkey was the only country that had opposed the move backed by the US, the UK, and Pakistan’s arch-rival India. However, Islamabad’s longtime ally, Beijing abstained.
Moving one step further, New Delhi — co-chair of the joint group of FATF and Asia Pacific Group — wants Islamabad to be placed on the Paris-based watchdog’s blacklist of the countries, which fail to meet international standards in combating financial crimes.
However, an aggressive diplomatic push from Islamabad has frustrated the looming threat with the support of Turkey, China and Malaysia.
