Ministry rubbishes Indian media reports of Pakistan being blacklisted by FATF
- By Web Desk -
- Aug 23, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance on Friday (today) issued a statement rubbishing a news carried by Indian media regarding Pakistan being ‘blacklisted’ by a global financial watchdog, the ministry rubbished all such claims and shunned all such rumors.
According to details, the ministry in a press release on the matter said that the reports in Indian media that Pakistan had been blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force’s APG (Asia Pacific Group) are false.
“Media reports circulating about Pakistan being blacklisted by APG is incorrect and baseless,” a press release from the ministry said.
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“[APG] has put Pakistan in its enhanced follow-up as per APG’s Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures. In line with APG’s Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures, Pakistan would be required to submit follow-up progress reports to APG on quarterly basis,” it added.
The APG in its meeting during the week of 18-23 August adopted Pakistan’s third mutual evaluation report.
A statement by the APG read, “during the week, APG members adopted six significant mutual reports. The reports – for China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the Philippines and Solomon Islands – were analysed and discussed in detail over two full days and will now be subject to post-plenary quality and consistency review prior to publication. Final publication on the APG website is expected in early October 2019.”
The last meeting of the overseeing body was held on August 21 where Pakistan was represented in the session by the central bank’s Governor Baqir Reza.
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Pakistan had submitted its compliance report to the Asia Pacific Group on 27-point action plan committed with the FATF.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is a member of the APG since 2000. APG is a regional body of FATF and requires its members to undergo mutual evaluation on the compliance of its AML/CFT framework with FATF recommendations.
During the meetings, Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) also signed an MoU with the China Anti Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Centre (CAMLAC) on the exchange of financial intelligence.