Govt to establish anti-money laundering authority

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to establish Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) as an autonomous body that will exist under the administration of Ministry of Interior (MoI), the interior ministry sources said.

The AMLA would be linked with Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing.

The motive of establishing the Authority is to expand the scope of checking the terrorist outfits involved the financial crime of money laundering other than Pakistan, the sources maintained.

The AMLA will perform as policy making institution, the sources and added that the headquarters of the Authority will be housing in the building where the FATF office was set up in Islamabad.

“The structure of the organisation will soon be finalised and chairman or director general will be appointed to run the AMLA,” the sources said.

The AMLA is an intergovernmental organisation that sets international standards to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Pakistan is a member of the FATF and is required to implement its recommendations. The FATF has a number of tools to help countries combat money laundering, which will be shifted to the AMLA after it starts working.

The Federal Investigation Agency official attached with anti-money laundering told The News that the motive of constituting an autonomous body is to deal with globally-affected money laundering crimes.

The FATF would keep providing technical assistance to Pakistan with other member countries that are struggling to implement the FATF recommendations, the sources added. This assistance can take a variety of forms -- training, workshops, and legislative advice, the interior ministry sources said.

The FATF has played a significant role in helping Pakistan to counter money laundering. In 2018, Pakistan was placed on the FATF’s “grey list” of countries under increased monitoring. This was due to a number of deficiencies in Pakistan’s AML system.