The Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also found that Pakistan was non-compliant on 32 of the 40 compliance parameters of terror financing and money laundering.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. (File Photo: IANS)
The Asia- Pacific Group of the global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering put Pakistan in the enhanced expedited follow-up list (blacklist) for its failure to meet its standards, according to officials on Friday.
The Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also found that Pakistan was non-compliant on 32 of the 40 compliance parameters of terror financing and money laundering.
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The FATF APG meeting was held in Canberra, Australia and the discussions lasted over seven hours over two days.
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Indian privy to the development said, “The APG has placed Pakistan in the Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List (Black List) for failure to meet its standards”.
The official said that despite its efforts, Pakistan could not convince the 41-member plenary to upgrade it on any parameter.
Pakistan has to focus on avoiding the blacklist in October when the 15-month timeline ends on the FATF’s 27-point action plan, another official said.
Earlier in June this year, Pakistan government wanted to avoid being pushed into the ‘blacklist’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) by garnering the support of at least three member states of the global financial watchdog.
The temporary breather for Pakistan came as a result of desperate efforts made by the Imran Khan government to garner the support of FATF member countries to counter the looming threat of a ‘blacklist’ push from the existing ‘grey’.
Currently, India, the co-chair of the joint group of FATF and the Asia Pacific Group (APG), along with the United States and United Kingdom, has been campaigning to ensure Islamabad ends up in FATF’s ‘blacklist’, claiming that the country has failed to meet international standards in combating financial crimes and terror financing.
Pakistan has not been able to implement the action plan, which was assigned to it by the APG and FATF, deadline of which ended in January 2019, but was given leverage till May 2019.
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