Pakistan taken off FATF’s ‘grey’ list due to hectic efforts of FIA, FCCI told

FAISALABAD: Pakistan has come out of the FATF grey list due to the dedicated efforts of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and practical cooperation of the business community. We are holding awareness meetings with an objective to sensitize the business community to ensure strict financial discipline in their institutions on a sustained basis, said Rai Ijaz Ahmad, Director FIA.

Addressing the business community in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he said that FIA has been mandated to cover a wide range of crimes relating to the federal institutions. “These include human trafficking, banking crimes, corruption in federal institutions and cybercrimes etc,” he said and particularly mentioned the requirements of the FATF.

Director FIA said that earlier there was only one circle of FIA in Faisalabad but now a separate circle has been created to deal with the cases of cybercrimes including money laundering. “Our full focus on it”, he said and added that money laundering involves any kind of criminal proceeds, its transactions and property purchased with this ill-gotten money. He said that actions under cybercrimes may delay but the criminal activities are monitored unnoticed by the individual and the involved persons may face criminal proceedings after lapse of 15-20 years.

He said that SBP has established a dedicated Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) and all banks and financial institutions are bound to report any suspicious banking transaction routed through their bank. He further said that this suspicious transaction is investigated and action may be taken after thorough probe. He said that business transactions are common in Faisalabad but these should be in accordance with the law. He said that sometimes hefty amounts from an irrelevant person are transferred into the business account of a company which may initiate investigation to dig out its money trail. He said that we also care about the intention of the person involved if this transaction is intentional or made erroneously. He said that suspicious bank transactions are monitored regularly in all countries and hence we should also make it a part of our routine business.

Director FIA further said that crypto currency is illegal in Pakistan and legal action could be invoked in case of its transaction. He said that some black sheep are involved in hawala-hundi and benami accounts and hoped that responsible businessmen would avoid this situation. He said that FIA is here to support the business community and FCCI members could contact him or his PSO in case of any ticklish problem.

He also mentioned bogus housing schemes and said that in some cases the societies are neither registered nor they had lands but they fraudulently sale plots to the innocent people with ulterior motives to deprive them of their hard earned money. “In most such cases the extorted amount is being smuggled out of the country and then repatriated to make it “White”, he said and added that people must remain vigilant before making investment in such real estate projects. Responding to a question, he said that a dedicated counter could be opened at the airports for the passenger of business class.

Earlier President FCCI, Dr. Khurram Tariq welcomed Rai Ijaz Ahmad and said that he has taken a bold step to interact with the business community. He was optimistic that this meeting would provide us an opportunity to understand each other and contribute to our role in arresting the white-collar crimes. He introduced FCCI and said that it has more than 8,000 members from 118 sectors and subsectors of the economy. He said that crimes are rising due to the prevailing economic situation and we must collaborate with the concerned government agencies to avoid any untoward situation. He said that digitalization has offered innovative facilities for the business community but at the same time it has posed new challenges and close collaboration of the business community and government agencies is imperative to efficiently face these challenges. President FCCI said that he has understood the definition of hawala-hundi in its real perspective.

A question answer session was also held. Senior Vice President Dr. Sajjad Arshad, Vice President Haji Muhammad Aslam Bhalli, Rana Sikandar Azam, Kashif Zia, Shafique Hussain Shah, Mian Abdul Waheed, Sheikh Muhammad Fazil, Sohail Butt, Ghulam Hussain, Noorul Huda Butt and Ijaz Baig participated in it.

Dr. Khurram Tariq offered a vote of thanks and said that this meeting was really an eye opener for the business community. He said that we may conduct our business transactions according to the traditional ways but it may be contradictory to the law hence we must ensure financial discipline in our institutions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023