700 terror financing cases near conviction: Pak govt

The global watchdog for money laundering and terrorist financing FATF on October 18 gave Pakistan a four-month lifeline urging Islamabad to fulfil its commitments by February 2020. It also warned Pakistan that failing to fulfill its commitments to this international monitoring agency could put the country back on a list of jurisdictions branded as uncooperative and tax havens for terror funding.

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has disclosed on Wednesday that as part of the Financial Action Task Force's, more than 700 under-investigation suspected terror financing cases were near adjudication.

Minister for economic affairs Hammad Azhar, who was the chief negotiator on behalf of the country at the Paris-based FATF plenary meeting last week, eulogized the success of his government in dealing with terror financing and money laundering issues.

"We have initiated these terror financing cases in the last six months," he said, claiming that Islamabad's efforts on that account were highly appreciated at the meeting.

But the Minister did not elaborate the number of cases nearing conviction.

He set June 2020 as an indicative target for compliance with all 27 actions plan to come out of the grey list.

Pakistan will submit its report to the International Cooperation Review Group of the FATF in January 2020 which will include all actions being taken since September 2019.

On the issue of proscribed outfits, Azhar said that they would be dealt with according to the national laws.

But there was a need for strengthening investigation and prosecution.

We are working on improving further inter-agency coordination to improve compliance, he added.

Azhar's remarks come after the FATF, the global watchdog for money laundering and terrorist financing on October 18 gave Pakistan a four-month lifeline urging Islamabad to fulfill its commitments by February 2020.

FATF also warned Pakistan that failing to fulfill its commitments to this international monitoring agency could put the country back on a list of jurisdictions branded as uncooperative and tax havens for terror funding.

Popularly known as the blacklist, the placement could lead to a punitive action including the FATF urging all jurisdictions to watch their business relations and transactions with Pakistan.

In 2012, Pakistan was placed on the grey list of countries considered uncooperative and tax havens for terror funding. It remained on the list till 2015.

Pakistan was re-placed on the grey list on June 29, 2018, and given 15 months to implement a 27-point action plan agreed with the FATF.