FATF action plan nears completion

ISLAMABAD: In a terse rebuttal to the United Kingdom, the Foreign Office Monday asked it to avoid politically-motivated and misplaced measures against Pakistan which was neither involved in money laundering nor terror financing. “We have seen the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (High Risk Countries) Regulations 2021 regarding certain jurisdictions including Pakistan. The UK's assessment leading to the subject regulation is not based on facts. Pakistan has a robust AML/CFT regime in place. We hope the UK would review its regulations in light of facts on ground and avoid politically-motivated and misplaced measures,” said the Foreign Office. Pakistan was reacting to the latest decision in which the UK has added it to the existing list of 21 countries that were part of Schedule 3ZA (High Risk Countries) under its Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (High Risk Countries) Regulations 2021.

The Foreign Office added that in particular, over last two years, Pakistan had taken unprecedented measures through a series of legislative, institutional and administrative actions in the domain of anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism.

“These actions, which have also been reported to the FATF and shared with the EU, have been widely acknowledged by the international community. The near completion of Pakistan's FATF Action Plan through 24 out of 27 action items is a testament to Pakistan's commitment and tangible actions in AML/CFT domain,” pointed out the Foreign Office.

Presently, after the last February plenary meeting, Pakistan has been placed on the grey list of the FATF till June and has been asked to work on three out of 27 unmet action plan targets on anti-money laundering and combating financing terror. At the same time, the FATF had lauded Pakistan for significant progress made so far.