No Saudi anti-Pakistan vote in FATF plenary

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday categorically rejected the “false and baseless” media reports claiming that Saudi Arabia had voted against Pakistan in the ongoing plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong fraternal ties and the two countries have always cooperated with each other on all matters of bilateral, regional and international importance,” said the spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri.

The spokesperson termed the report “a malicious propaganda” and clarified that Pakistan greatly valued its relations with Saudi Arabia. “FATF will announce its assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the Action Plan and the future course of action after conclusion of its Plenary Meeting,” Chaudhri added.

Earlier, there were reports circulating on the social media that Saudi Arabia had voted against Pakistan in the FATF plenary that began on Wednesday. However, the reports were not true, as the plenary will take up Pakistan’s case on the last day of the meeting on Friday (today).

The plenary, which was earlier scheduled in June but was postponed due to the COVID-19, will decide whether to keep Pakistan on the grey list for another extended period or to remove it. In February 2020, the FATF plenary granted Pakistan a grace period of four months to complete its 27-point action plan against money-laundering and terror financing (ML&TF) after it noted that the country was compliant on 14 points. Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018.