Pakistani delegation headed by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar left for Paris on Sunday to attend a crucial session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the French capital.
Additional Secretary Finance Sohail Rajput, along with the representatives of National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) are also part of the delegation that will attend the meeting on October 14 and 15.
The FATF meeting will discuss steps taken by Pakistan till April 2019 and a decision will be taken whether to exclude Pakistan from the grey list.
Measures taken by Pakistan to prevent terrorist financing will also be reviewed in the FATF meeting.
Pakistan has already implemented most of the FATF measures, such as banning terrorist organisations. In addition, Pakistan has also taken steps to seize the properties of terrorists and stopped them from doing business.
The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) earlier this month published its report on money-laundering and terror-financing in Pakistan, which stated Pakistan had complied with 36 of the 40 parameters set by the FATF at the time of the country’s inclusion in the grey list.
Based on the technical compliance ratings, the APG reported that Pakistan has fully complied with one parameter, largely complied with nine parameters, and partially complied with 26 of the 40 parameters.
Notably, being on the black list means our banking system will be regarded as one with poor controls over AML and CFT standards — forget bringing PayPal to Pakistan, expatriates will find it difficult to send remittances and traders’ cost of business will increase because our banks will face higher scrutiny in international payments and foreign banks might not even do business with Pakistani banks. The government, too, will struggle to raise funds from international markets if we are placed on the black list.
