FATF’s plenary meeting scrutinises Pak compliance report

ISLAMABAD: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been scrutinising Pakistan’s compliance report on two action plans and a total of eight points in its ongoing plenary meeting held in Paris.

The FATF’s plenary meeting is likely to keep Pakistan on the grey list despite making progress on certain points, including amending the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) law for ensuring international cooperation.

“Despite making progress on new action plans having seven points, the FATF has not conducted onsite visit, so the possibility of exclusion from the grey list is out of the question,” top official sources confirmed while talking to The News here on Wednesday. The FATF plenary will be concluded today (Thursday) and President FATF will address a press briefing to announce the decisions.

Pakistani officials say that out of seven action plans placed by FATF, Islamabad submitted its progress report and claimed progress on all points. “We expect that the plenary will accept a few points and will declare compliant or largely compliant on a few of them,” said the official.

On the last point of the first action plan out of 27 points, Pakistan was asked to show progress on the prosecution against UN-designated outfits and their affiliated associates. Pakistan has shared progress on this front in the past and this time-shared specific number of persons against those prosecutions was done effectively. The FATF may not show its satisfaction over this point.

The FATF plenary held last July had kept Pakistan on the grey list and simultaneously handed over another action plan comprising a total of seven points to implement them in order to avoid falling into the blacklist.