Pakistan on FATF’s Grey List: Decision pending till on site verification

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial watchdog, stated on Friday that Pakistan will remain on its ‘grey list,’ with a final decision to remove it coming after an “on-site” verification visit by the Paris-based group.

This decision was made following the conclusion of the FATF plenary in Berlin, where representatives from governments around the world and partner organizations such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund debated critical money laundering and terrorism funding concerns.

“At its June 2022 Plenary, the FATF made the initial determination that Pakistan has substantially completed its two action plans, which cover 34 items, and warrants an on-site visit to verify that Pakistan’s AML/CFT reforms have begun and are being sustained and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future,” the FATF said in a statement.

FATF further noted, “We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and undertake an on-site visit as soon as practicable.”

Since June 2018, Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog for inadequacies in its counter-terrorist funding and anti-money laundering regimes.

Its imports, exports, remittances, and access to foreign credit have all been harmed as a result of the greylisting.

The country was granted three months in June 2021 to complete the remaining conditions by October. Pakistan, on the other hand, was kept on the FATF’s ‘grey list’ for failing to properly apply global FATF standards and for failing to investigate and prosecute key leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups.

Pakistan was summoned by the FATF in March to work on “complicated money laundering investigations and prosecutions.”