FATF meeting being held from June 24 to 26 in Paris

ISLAMABAD: The decision of Pakistan’s fate for falling into category of grey list will be taken during the plenary meeting of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) scheduled to be held at Paris by end of this month from June 24 to 29, 2018 and Islamabad was making all out efforts to avoid further downgrading having far reaching repercussions for the economy.

In a bid to foil this move, the newly stalled Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar on Wednesday directed all authorities concerned to fill required existing gaps on administrative and legal fronts before attending this scheduled meeting.

“Yes, the Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar has reviewed all legal and administrative steps taken by Islamabad to avoid slipping into category of grey list so proper homework will be done to achieve our desired objectives,” one top official of government confided to The News here after attending meeting chaired by Minister of Finance on Wednesday.

In a brief official announcement, the Ministry of Finance stated that Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Planning Development and Reforms chaired a meeting here at the Ministry of Finance to review different FATF related issues.

However, the official sources said that Pakistan’s high-powered delegation was expected to participate in this upcoming plenary session of FATF from June 24 to 29 in which the decision of putting into grey list will be finalised in case of Pakistan.

“There are some gaps identified at recently held deliberations at Bangkok for finalising action plan against money laundering and terror financing and different steps are underway to bridge this gap,” said the official.

Pakistan will brief about its action which the government passed through Finance Bill 2018 with approval of the Parliament for taxing foreign jurisdictions and helping the country to curb money laundering under mutual assistance agreement with OECD and other bilateral countries.

The purpose of the plenary meeting is to ensure the adoption, implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards as set out in the FATF Forty Recommendations and FATF Eight Special Recommendations.

The effort includes assisting countries and territories of the region in enacting laws to deal with the proceeds of crime, mutual legal assistance, confiscation, forfeiture and extradition; providing guidance in setting up systems for reporting and investigating suspicious transactions and helping in the establishment of financial intelligence units. The APG also enables regional factors to be taken into account in the implementation of anti-money laundering measures.

Following the events of 11 September 2001, the Asia Pacific Group (APG) expanded its scope to include the countering of terrorist financing. The APG is supported by a Secretariat, which serves as the focal point for its activities. The APG became an Associate Member of the FATF in 2006.