FATF to make decision for Pakistan seeking grey list exit today

BEIJING: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will make its final decision regarding the exit of Pakistan from its grey list after the final round of talks with the officials today, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Sources said Pakistan has briefed the FATF officials regarding the steps taken for stop money laundering and terror-financing by presented its progress report which responded 22 demands raised by the task force.

Earlier on Wednesday, the officials of Pakistan and Financial Action Task Force had continued dialogues in Beijing where the implementation report of Islamabad was reviewed regarding the four-month progress on the FATF action plan, sources told ARY News.

Read: FO condemns Indian General’s remarks on FATF, Kashmir

Sources said FATF officials were briefed over four-month progress on the implementation of the action plan by Pakistani officials. The briefing was given by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar which highlighted the effective measures taken by the government for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter financial terrorism (CFL).

The report submitted by the Pakistani officials was also reviewed by the FATF officials in Beijing.

Hammad Azhar said that strict ban has been imposed on outlawed outfits, whereas, the rate of case registration under terror-financing rises up to 451 per cent and arrest made under the category increases up to 677 per cent.

Read: Pakistani delegation lands in Beijing for crucial talks with FATF

He elaborated that the rate of penalties imposed in terror-financing cases has witnessed rise up to 403 per cent, whereas, the concerned institutions have seized Rs314.2 million.

Azhar, while providing statistics to the FATF officials, said 827 cases had been registered under the category of terror-financing till December 2019 besides 1,104 arrests across the country. 196 out of 1,104 detained persons have been pronounced sentences, whereas, 387 cases were registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), sources said.

Sources said FATF officials have expressed satisfaction over the implementation report during the ongoing dialogues which will be continued till Thursday (today).