Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar along with other officials of the ministry will fight Pakistan's case in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting being held in Paris from June 24-29. The finance minister and her team are expected to reach Paris today (Monday) where they will apprise the FATF members about steps taken by Pakistan to counter money laundering and terror financing.
Pakistan may be placed on a so-called "grey-list" of the FATF during its six-day meeting which began on Sunday in the French capital. The FATF is an intergovernmental body that monitors anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing standards for its member countries. The decision to place Pakistan on the global money-laundering watchdog's grey-list was made during the FATF plenary meeting in February this year. And now Pakistan is required to submit an action plan for review during the FATF's meeting in Paris.
Before leaving for Paris to attend the FATF meeting, the Finance Minister chaired a meeting on Saturday in Islamabad to review the matters pertaining to counter money laundering and terrorism financing. She expressed resolve to keep up efforts on counter financing of terrorism, adding that the Finance Ministry has improved institutional mechanisms for handling anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing.
The minister said the coordination between Central Bank, Banking institutions and Law Enforcement Agencies have also been strengthened to curb money laundering and terror financing. Earlier on June 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Regulations, 2018, in compliance with FATF recommendations.
The anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism regulations 2018 "are fully compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, which are mandatory to adopt for Pakistan as a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering," the SECP said in a statement. Pakistan has been on the FATF grey-list list from 2012 to 2015.
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