ISLAMABAD: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its plenary held in Paris, France, on Friday removed Pakistan from its Public Statement (Grey listing) which contained adverse remarks on Pakistan since February 2012. The FATF in its decision about Pakistan said that it welcomed Pakistan's significant progress in improving its Anti-money Laundering/Combating Financing for Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and noted that Pakistan had established a legal and regulatory framework to meet the commitments in its Action Plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified in June 2010, said a statement issued by Ministry of Finance.
The FATF decision further stated that Pakistan was no longer subject to FATF's monitoring process under its ongoing global AML/CFT compliance process. Pakistan would work with the Asia Pacific Group as it continued to address the full range of AML/CFT issues identified in its mutual evaluation report, in particular, fully implementing UNSC Resolution 1267, FATF said in its decision.
It may be added that FATF, the international body which sets standards for AML/CTF, placed Pakistan on its Grey list in February 2012 which meant that the country was not fully compliant with the standards set by FATF for effectively combating the twin menaces of money laundering and terrorist financing. Such a designation is not only a scar on the country but a major risk to its dealings in the international financial sector. The present government has expended painstaking efforts in the last 21 months to create the conditions that have led to this much-needed vindication of Pakistan's AML/CFT regime.
All deficiencies in various facets of the regime were removed, including additional legislation, to fill the gaps that existed between AML and CFT. The most significant task was to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, enabling law enforcing agencies to pursue the cases of terrorist financing alongside anti-money laundering as well.
The law was amended twice to bring it in line with the international standards set by FATF and the UN. Equally important, Pakistan met the concerns of Asia Pacific Regional Review Group (AP-RRG) on enforcement actions against the UN-designated entities. Financial institutions have also been prohibited from providing any financial services to such entities and associated individuals. Personal accounts have specially been prohibited for the use of any type of charitable donations.
FATF's Regional Review Group visited Pakistan in December 2014 for an onsite review of AML/CFT reforms and generally expressed satisfaction on Pakistan's technical compliance to the requirements of the FATF Action Plan to which Pakistan had agreed. Pakistan's delegation at the FATF Plenary session strongly presented Pakistan's case and convinced the FATF members about the significant progress made by Pakistan in fully implementing the Action Plan.
As a result Pakistan's exit from Grey list was approved. Finally, the Finance Minister wrote on February 21, 2015 a detailed letter to FATF President explaining the initiatives and actions taken by Pakistan in the last two years by the PML (N) Government, urging him for proper recognition of the hard work, and to delist Pakistan from the list of countries included in the Grey list.
The Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, while commenting on the decision, said that Pakistan's removal from FATF Grey list is a timely and welcome development, which is an outcome of the tireless efforts made by the economic managers under the leadership of Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif.
The government has taken very seriously the menace of terrorist financing; and it has taken measures to strengthen the regime and build capacity of the law enforcing agencies to pursue such cases, he said. He said Pakistan had not only completed the FATF Action Plan but also developed its own National Action Plan to continually take counter measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
He added the measures included increased enforcement against all proscribed organisations and individuals including those attempting to operate under new names, increased vigilance of Non-profit Organizations and enhanced capacity building of the authorities concerned to strengthen the implementation of recently reformed CFT law. Finance Minister said that it was significant that Pakistan had been removed from the Grey list after a period of three years due to persistent efforts of the present government. Dar further stated that Pakistan's exit from the FATF Grey list would further encourage the inflow of foreign investment in Pakistan and will provide grounds for better assessment of Pakistan's credit rating in the international market. He also added that Pakistan looks forward to continue to work with FATF and individual members for fighting against money laundering and terrorist financing in order to bring peace and provide security for life and property to people of Pakistan and international community.
Comments
Comments are closed.