Asia Pacific Group (APG), regional grouping of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has placed Pakistan on its enhanced monitoring category which would require Pakistan to submit an updated report on technical compliance to APG on February 1, 2020. This was revealed to Business Recorder by spokesperson of Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) after he was approached with Indian media reports claiming that Pakistan has been blacklisted by the APG.
"Based on APG criteria, we have been put on its enhanced monitoring category. Under this we would be required to submit our first report to APG on February 1, 2020 which would be an update on improvements in our technical compliance", the FMU spokesperson said. Rejecting the Indian media reports, he asserted that there is no concept of blacklisting in APG, and categorically denied that Pakistan has been blacklisted and instead been put in the enhanced monitoring category.
Finance Ministry, in a statement, also rejected the India media reports as 'baseless' and 'incorrect', claiming that Pakistan had been placed on the blacklist during the APC 22nd annual meeting in Canberra, Australia. "This is with reference to the news published in Indian media about Pakistan being black listed by APG. It is clarified that APG in its 22nd Annual Meeting held in Canberra, Australia from 18-23 August 2019 has adopted Pakistan's 3rd Mutual Evaluation Report and has put Pakistan in its enhanced follow-up as per APG's Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures," the Ministry stated.
In line with APG's Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures, it stated that Pakistan would be required to submit follow-up progress reports to APG on quarterly basis. "It is further clarified that the media reports being circulated about Pakistan being blacklisted by APG are incorrect and baseless." the Finance Ministry further stated.
A senior Foreign Office official also rejected the claim, saying India tried its level best to have Pakistan downgraded in APG however it failed due to work put in by Pakistan.
"APG as a forum is not mandated to blacklist any country. Reports in Indian media are completely baseless and part of a malicious propaganda campaign against Pakistan", he added.
According to a private TV channel, a spokesman for the Paris-based FATF also denied Indian media claims that Pakistan has been put on the black list and stated "any decision to this effect will be the jurisdiction of the FATF which will meet in October this year."
An official, who was part of Pakistan's delegation to the APG annual meeting, stated that staying on the grey list would be an achievement as the stipulated comprehensive action plan was not possible to implement in one year. APG group visited Pakistan in February 2018 and identified some gaps - some that were contested, and some where it was agreed more progress is required.
"Good thing for Pakistan is that the world is now acknowledging that the government of Pakistan is serious and taking action on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT)," the official maintained. Based on the evaluation report, he added that Pakistan may have been tasked to take some measures but it must be borne in mind that the report covered the period up to October 2018, and progress has been made to strengthen the effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime post-October 2018.
The FMU official said that amendments to the law, including anti-money laundering and foreign exchange regulation laws (FERA) have been suggested to restrict domestic movement of currency beyond a certain limit with the objective of curbing the practice of Hawala/Hundi and other forms of illegal foreign exchange transactions. The laws have been cleared by the committees and await approval of parliament.
The AML amendments include: (i) increase in punishment for money laundering up to ten years and fine of five million rupees; (ii) doing away with the condition of time consuming administrative process with Pakistan authorities cooperating with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of other countries for information-sharing relating to money laundering; and (iii) prompt filing of suspicious transaction reports.
In a statement issued Friday, the APG stated its members adopted six significant mutual evaluation reports; reports for China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, Pakistan, the Philippines and Solomon Islands were analyzed and discussed in detail over two full days and will now be subject to post-plenary quality and consistency review prior to publication. The final publication on the APG website is expected in early October 2019.
Over 520 senior delegates from 46 jurisdictions and 13 international organisations came together in Canberra, Australia during the week of 18 - 23 August 2019 to convene the APG's 22nd annual meeting and annual technical assistance forum. The event was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Leanne Close of the Australian Federal Police and Mr Abu Hena Mohd. Razee Hassan, Head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit.
The APG also adopted a number of follow-up reports for APG members and for joint APG/FATF members and also agreed on revised evaluation procedures for the coming year reflecting recent changes to global procedures. APG members adopted a CFT Operational Plan as part of a global strategy to address the concerns related to terrorist financing. As part of this plan, the plenary agreed to undertake a typologies and implementation project examining the financing and facilitation of foreign fighters and returnees.
Also discussed and adopted were the following important typologies reports:
-- APG/EAG report on Terrorism Financing & Proceeds of Crime (including Organised Crime). The report identifies techniques and trends associated with the use of proceeds of crime including from organised crime for financing terrorism. The report is expected to be published in November 2018.
-- The 2019 APG Yearly Typologies Report includes approximately 135 cases received from 19 member jurisdictions and APG observers. Members agreed on a new joint project with the Alliance for Financial Stability with Information Technology - to develop a workshop to be held in early 2020 on the application of FATF Guidance on Digital KYC to the Asia Pacific region following its adoption/publication by the FATF in February 2020.
The APG's Annual Forum on Technical Assistance and Training held in tandem with the annual meeting included 30 meetings over five days, comprised of 26 individual sessions between members and donors of AML/CFT technical assistance. Three sub-regional meetings were also convened. These discussions led to important information-sharing and coordination mechanisms among the APG's members, observers, donors and providers.
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