The Financial Action Task Force will decide today about Pakistan’s removal from the grey list that pertains to money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF will announce its decision in a press conference at 5:30pm (PST).
In June 2018, the global watchdog had placed Pakistan on its grey list over Islamabad’s failure to curb money laundering and terror financing. Since then, Pakistan has been struggling to get out of the list by working on the FATF action plan.
Pakistan has completed implementation on 26 out of 27 points of action given by FATF, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said, saying that the global watchdog has no reason to keep the country in the grey list.
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It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s progress on the action plan has been significant and the remaining one agenda pointer is partially complete as well; however, its recognition is much to do with the global political landscape.
But it seems Pakistan will probably remain on the grey list till the next plenary meeting, given the skepticism as observers in Islamabad have with “little to no faith” in the members of the global watchdog about an impartial assessment of Pakistan’s accomplishments.
Experts believe that Pakistan’s progress on the given action plan has been phenomenal and that no other developing country has been subjected to such stringent measures and that if a comparative assessment was to be done in lieu of the action plan given to Pakistan, much of the developing countries would fall short by miles.
Since its placement on the anti-terror list, over 900 properties of proscribed organisations have been taken over by the state machinery. Similarly, individuals of concern — Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Yahya Mujahid, Professor Zafar Iqbal, Hafiz Abdus Salam and others — have also been prosecuted by the government.
Pakistan has overhauled its laws pertaining to anti-money laundering and terror financing by introducing harsher punishments for those found involved in corrupt and illicit practices. Moreover, the country has also proposed strict monitoring of imports and exports to curb the illegal flow of wealth in its recent finance bill.
After an overall assessment, it would be fair to conclude that the threats of blacklisting of the country by the global watchdog are over; however, the grey-listing remains a threat.
