FATF acknowledges completion of Pakistan’s Action Plans and authorizes an on-site visit

The FATF 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, writes Chandrakala Choudhury.

New Delhi: The global terror financing watchdog- Financial Action Task Force (FATF) today reviewed Pakistan’s progress on FATF Action Plans in its Plenary meetings held in Berlin on 13-17 June 2022. FATF has acknowledged the completion of Pakistan’s Action Plans (2018 and 2021) and has authorized an onsite visit to Pakistan, as a final step to exit from the FATF’s grey list.

According to the FATF statement, Pakistan remains on the grey list, it will be taken off the grey list if it successfully passes the on-site visit. 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. Taking to Twitter, Hina Khar said, "Congrats Pak! FATF declares both Action Plans complete. Intl community has unanimously ack our efforts. Our success is the result of 4 yrs of challenging journey. Pak reaffirms their resolve to continue the momentum and give our economy a boost. Well done Pak Team FATF. Pak Zindabad!"

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.

The FATF members while participating in the discussion on Pakistan’s progress, congratulated Pakistan for completing both Action Plans covering 34 items, and especially on the early completion of the action plan in a record timeframe. Pakistan continued its relentless efforts toward the successful completion of these Action Plans despite many challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, they said.

Pakistan has covered a lot of ground in the AML/CFT domain during the implementation of FATF Action Plans and the engagement with FATF has led to the development of a strong AML/CFT framework in Pakistan and resulted in improving our systems to cope with future challenges, they added.