Paris
Pakistan has accelerated ‘diplomatic efforts’ as part of preparation ahead of meeting with the global financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Working Group in Beijing on January 20-21.
Pakistan will be judged by an FATF plenary next month on the basis of the Joint Group’s report for possible exit from the grey list or at least avoiding the entry into the black list.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar has been himself monitoring the contacts with FATF member states.
An 18-member delegation will present Pakistan’s performance report from Oct. 2019 till Jan. 2020 in compliance with the FATF Action Plan’s 27 recommendations concerning Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) system.
Pakistan has already sent a 650-page report to the global financial watchdog, and it will be considered by the body’s meeting starting from Feb. 16 in Paris.
Sources familiar with the matter expressed a possibility that voting might be done to consider Pakistan’s exit from the grey list.
The FATF had demanded Pakistan to sentence those who had been associated with the banned outfits and summoned copies of cases lodged against those organisations.
Details were also sought about legal steps taken concerning religious seminaries, action against money laundering, and transfer of funds, assets and jewelry in the name of terrorists.
Pakistan has forwarded all required particulars to the FATF while noting that investigations into 700 cases concerning transfer of funds to militants were ongoing.–INP
