ISLAMABAD: Plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) taking place from October 21-23 would decide Pakistan’s status on Friday, said a senior official of the Finance Ministry.
The official added that Pakistan had presented the case on October 13-14 and now ongoing plenary meeting would take final decision about the country’s status on October 23. “Hopefully the country would remain on grey list,” he added. In September, the joint session of the parliament had approved a number of legislations to strengthen laws against money laundering and terrorism financing to comply with the requirement and action plan of the FATF.
As the meeting is virtual, the Finance Ministry was not aware whether any delegation from Pakistan went to Paris or not. A plenary meeting of the FATF would decide on the basis of measures taken by the government against money laundering and terror financing, whether Pakistan should be excluded from its “grey list” or not.
Pakistan got a four-month period from the FATF in February to complete 27-point action plan against money laundering and terror financing after noting that Pakistan has delivered on 14 points but missed 13 other targets.
The FATF website stated that the first plenary under the two-year German FATF Presidency of Dr Marcus Pleyer starts today (Wednesday).
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact around the world, the FATF remains committed to proceeding with its work.
As a result of travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, the FATF Plenary will meet virtually.
During the next three days, delegates will discuss a range of issues, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on countries’ ability to detect, prevent and investigate money laundering and terrorist financing.
Delegates will discuss the progress made by some jurisdictions identified as presenting a risk to the financial system.
The FATF Plenary will also discuss and finalise updates to the FATF standards that will strengthen measures to prevent the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The outcomes of the FATF Plenary will be published on Friday 23 October, at the close of the meeting.
The FATF president will be giving a press briefing on the outcomes of the FATF Plenary on Friday 23 October.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020