Cash couriers’ identification: Pakistan prepares sectoral risk assessments

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to comply with the FATF conditions, Pakistan has prepared sectoral risk assessments to identify and understand the risk of cash couriers being used through air, land routes and sea for terror financing.

The FATF also asks Pakistan to provide case studies to demonstrate that authorities are pursing international cooperation to identify cash couriers and enforce controls on the illegal movement of currency.

The Pakistani side informed the Asia Pacific Group (APG), a regional body of FATF, that a total of 23 international agreements were in place for bilateral and multilateral customs cooperation mechanism and more requests were made to move ahead on this subject.

The details shared with the APG delegation showed that three cases were received from the UAE where information was received in respect of 5 containers out of 120 in case of mis-declarations, no information was received from China, in case of Hong Kong they received information in 2 cases and from USA they received information in one case on mis-declaration.

Pakistan’s sectoral risks assessment report will be submitted to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for compliance on this key condition by next month. This risk assessment report will be reviewed by the plenary session of FATF scheduled to meet in Sydney (Australia) in first week of January 2019.

The Asia Pacific Group has asked Pakistan to undertake an in-depth analysis of all key cash smuggling risks particularly smuggling occurring across Pakistan/Afghanistan and Pak-Iran borders and explore the linkages between cash smuggling and transnational terrorist financing networks.

Top official sources in the Finance Division confirmed to The News on Sunday that in recent meetings chaired by Minister for Finance Asad Umar, the customs authorities sought billions of rupees funds for placement of high resolution scanners to foil smuggling of cash currency through all entry/exit points by air, land route and sea links.

A total of 24 entry/exit points in the country involve some degree of variance when gauged on the currency smuggling risk factors. The Pakistani side informed the APG mission in last October 2018 that the Currency Declaration System (CDS) was rolled out at all entry/exit in the country. The FBR has provided access to Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) to retrieve data of currency declarations and do the analysis assessments.

At present due to unavailability of real time online linkages, the CDS was restricted to random profiling of passengers. The FIA has now been requested to provide a real time online access in order to facilitate the passengers especially at Torkham, Chaman and Taftan border. An updated web-based version of the software is now being developed. It is expected that that with the final roll-out phase passengers traveling through entry/exit points will be able to access the CDS online to file their currency declarations.

Subject to provision of real time online access by FIA, the upgraded version can be rolled out by March 2019 to all entry/exit points.

The Pakistani side informed the APG that in anti-smuggling campaign on bordering areas, two seizure of foreign currency having worth of $29600 and $25000 were done near Pakistan-Afghan borders in July 2018. During 2012 to 2018, 93 investigations of illegal cash transactions were carried out in which 124 persons were arrested and 76 convictions achieved.

In fiscal year 2012-13, Pakistan seized currency of valuing Rs78,328,253, in fiscal 2013-14 Rs198,644,254, in fiscal 2014-15 Rs159,477,526, in fiscal 2015-16 Rs104, 527, 415, in fiscal 2016-17 Rs238,885, 000 and in fiscal year 2017-18 Rs81,542,540. Total seizure of currency from fiscal year 2012-13 to 2017-18 stood at Rs861, 404, 988.