Pakistan unlikely to be blacklisted in final FATF review — lawmakers

KARACHI: As Pakistan’s deadline for progress review by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) approaches in February, experts voice confidence the country will avoid blacklisting on the back of compliance measures taken by Islamabad to satisfy the anti-money laundering watchdog.
“Majority of the compliance has been completed by the government and progress in underway on the remaining ones that would also be implemented. We would be out of the grey list,” Senator Mohsin Aziz, member of Senate’s standing committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs told Arab News on Monday. “The implementation of (FATF) action plan is also in our interest because we want to get out of this (grey list) but we don’t want to be too strict to our people.”
Senates committee is considering the Anti-money Laundering (amendment) Bill 2019 which was passed by the national assembly on Monday and is referred to the committee for consideration which will them present its report before January 10, 2020. “This would be the last measure on the AML (Anti Money Laundering) from the finance’s side. The remaining requirements are related to other departments,” Aziz said.
Pakistan, in June 2018, was put on list of ‘Jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies’, known as the grey list by for country’s structural deficiencies in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) has taken number of measures to comply with the some 40 recommendations of FATF.
Country’s all major institutions including ministries of interior, finance, foreign affairs and law besides the State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, National Counter-Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA, Federal Board of Revenue, National Accountability Bureau, Anti-Narcotics Force, Central Directorate of National Savings and provincial counter-terrorism departments have joined hands to counter the money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF, at the end of its plenary meeting in Paris in October last year, had decided to keep the country in grey list explicitly warning Islamabad to curb terrorist financing or face further downgrading, blacklisting. Islamabad was given four months until February 2020 to fully implement action plan.
Pakistan is expected to submit the initial report based on the questions shoved by FATF’s Asia Pacific Group APG by January 8, 2020 which would be reviewed in APG’s next meeting scheduled to be held in Beijing between January 21 and 24, 2020.
The FATF is expected to take final decision on Pakistan’s status in its meeting in Paris in February 2020, where the country will either be removed from the grey-list or further action would be taken that may include blacklisting.
As per FATF charter, the support of at least three member states is essential to avoid blacklisting. India, arch-rival of Pakistan and a co-chair of the joint group of FATF and APG, is continuously pushing for Islamabad to be downgraded but Pakistani officials are confident that despite New Dehli’s opposition Islamabad would not be downgraded.
“India wants Pakistan to be blacklisted and is furiously opposing us but we positive that the action government has taken we will be out of grey list,” senator Aziz said.
Many financial experts agree with senator Aziz who expect that the country would not be further downgraded if not removed from the grey list. “I do not see Pakistan being put on the FATF blacklist, it will remain on the grey list,” Dr. Mushtaq Khan, renowned economic analyst, told Arab News.
However, government hopes that all the recommendations of FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) would be complied with by June 2020.
Officials and analysts say the Pakistan’s complaint threshold is higher than other countries and that is because of the country’s risk profile. Pakistan has been twice FATF grey list in 2008 and 2012.

Pakistan unlikely to be blacklisted in final FATF review — lawmakers