ISLAMABAD – A day after passage from the National Assembly, the Senate approved Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority Bill 2023 on Monday.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar moved the bill that aimed at further strengthening existing regulations for dealing with offences relating to money-laundering and effectively controlling illegal/corrupt practices negatively impacting the economy.
Ms Khar said that it was an effort in continuation of the work Pakistan has done to get out of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey-list.
She said that the bill provided setting up National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority. Prime minister will appoint chairman of the Authority.
Secretaries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Interior and Governor State Bank of Pakistan will be part of the Authority, she said.
She added that Chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau along with the Directors-General of the Federal Investigation Agency, Anti-Narcotics Force and Federal Board of Revenue will be included in the Authority.
She further informed the Upper House that DG Financial Monitoring Unit, Coordinator of National Counter-terrorism Authority and Chief Secretaries of all federating units will also be part of the Authority.
She said that the mechanism will help monitoring progress and timely redressal of issues.
