Parliament passes three FATF-related bills

ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of the Parliament on Wednesday passed three bills to meet the requirements of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) with majority vote, ARY News reported.  

According to the details, the joint session of the Parliament chaired by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser approved the bill amid uproar and walkout by the opposition parties.

The FATF-related bills were moved by Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan and Faheem Khan in the house.

According to the statement of subjects and reasons, ‘The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020’ was aimed at streamlining the existing anti money laundering law in line with international standards prescribed by FATF while the ‘The Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020’ was aimed at controlling the issue of terror financing.

The joint session also passed ‘The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020, The Surveying and Mapping (Amendment) Bill, 2020” and “The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019”.

200  votes were cast in favour of the Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill while 190 law makers voted against it during the joint session.

Read More: Will get the FATF-related bills approved at all costs: PM Imran

Earlier today, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that they will get the FATF-related bills approved from the Parliament at all costs.

He expressed this resolve while presiding over a meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its allied parties in Islamabad today.

He directed all the leaders to ensure their presence in the joint parliament session to get the bills approved.