FATF team quietly completes on-site visit to Pakistan

The findings of the 15-member FATF team would be discussed and reviewed in the next meeting of the FATF in October

A high-level team of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog FATF quietly concluded a five-day visit to Pakistan during which it held meetings with the relevant authorities and verified steps taken by the country to fulfil conditions to exit the grey list, according to a media report.

The findings of the 15-member Financial Action Task Force (FATF) team would be discussed and reviewed in the next meeting of the FATF, scheduled in Paris in October.

Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based FATF since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

Since then, the country continues to be on that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.

The positive outcome of the on-site team's findings would allow Pakistan to finally come clean over deficiencies in the system to curb money laundering and terror financing, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Saturday.

Citing official sources, the newspaper said that the FATF team stayed in the country from August 29 to September 2.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a special grant of Rs 7 million for the FATF Secretariat to provide the 15-member FATF team with accommodation, food and travel.

The visit was kept under wraps but sources said the FATF delegation held meetings with the relevant authorities and verified the steps Pakistan had taken to fulfill the condition of the international financial watchdog on money laundering and terror financing, the paper said.

The FATF in June concluded that Pakistan complied with the 34-point plan of action and agreed to send its team for the verification of those steps.

It was first given a 27-point action plan and later another 7-point plan to comply with the FATF’s standards.

The major stumbling block in Pakistan's efforts to exit the grey list was the persecution of certain UN Security Council-designated individuals accused of terror financing.

Just days before the June plenary FATF meeting in Berlin, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Sajid Mir, one of the most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in a terror financing case.

The move convinced the FATF members to acknowledge Pakistan’s progress, the paper said.

Pakistani officials were confident that the FATF team would give a positive assessment of the country’s progress.

The United States is believed to have played a key role in ensuring the onsite visit for Pakistan as it expressed satisfaction with the country’s measures to curb terror financing, particularly prosecuting certain individuals, the report said.

The exit from the FATF grey list will restore Pakistan’s image and give confidence to foreign investors for doing ventures in the country. The grey-listing makes it hard for countries to do financial transactions and raises the cost of doing business.

Pakistan’s removal from the grey list will help give impetus to its struggling economy, according to the paper.