Brussels: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary and Working Group meetings will begin in Paris from Monday. And it seems to be a testing time for Pakistan as the country has to prove the measures taken against outfits and persons involved in offences of money-laundering and terror financing.
Pakistan was placed on the Grey List in June 2018 by the FATF and came up with 27-point Action Plan for graduating it within one year period.
The 27-point Action Plan includes safeguards against money-laundering and terror-financing by banned outfits and non-government entities through banking and non-banking jurisdictions, capital markets, corporate and non-corporate sectors like chartered accountancy, financial advisory services, cost and management accountancy firm, jewellery and similar related services.
And if Pakistan fails to meet the implementation of the 27-point plan, the country would be blacklisted.
In August 2019, Asia Pacific Joint Group (APJG) placed Pakistan in the Enhanced Follow up list for failure to meet its standards.
According to the reports, Pakistan is reported to have satisfied the Group on only 6 of 27 items in its Action Plan, most of which are oriented towards resolving Pakistan’s issues regarding effectiveness.
Pakistan has been reaching out to all the member nations to assure them that it has been progressing in completing its Action Plan. Some diplomats from the USA and Europe believe that if Pakistan is blacklisted if unaccompanied by countermeasures, would not, significantly impact the Pakistani economy, while it would surely push the country to complete the Action Plan much faster.
