FATF Spokesperson + International Media Debunk Indian Propaganda Against Pakistan - Android

Contrary to what Indian media is saying, the Asia Pacific Group – a regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task… Read More

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Contrary to what Indian media is saying, the Asia Pacific Group – a regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – in its meeting during the week of 18-23 August, adopted Pakistan’s third mutual evaluation report.

A significant section of Indian media propagated the news that Pakistan was put in the FATF blacklist but the propaganda was busted within the next 24 hours as international media went on to debunk the false Indian reports.

A spokesperson of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has dismissed reports of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) blacklisting Pakistan. The spokesperson, Alexandra Wijmenga, clarified that only the FATF had the authority to blacklist, not its regional affiliate APG. According to her, the FATF will hold its meeting on October 14-18 in Paris and decisions which are taken would be published after that.

Pakistani officials claim Pakistan has made “substantial progress” on its FATF action plan by strengthening AML/CFT laws and safeguards that they believe merit removal of the country from the greylist. They said that the proposed laws’ clearance by parliamentary committees had been welcomed but would need approval by the parliament for implementation before the October 18-23 final review.

Major progress, they said, came about over the last six months as the International Monetary Fund flagged compliance with APG/FATF action plan a major factor to ensure external inflows.

The amendments in foreign exchange regulation laws (FERA) to restrict the domestic movement of currency beyond a certain limit are viewed as a key development to curb the practice of Hawala/Hundi and other forms of illegal foreign exchange transactions.

Statement by the Ministry of Finance

A press release by Pakistan’s ministry of finance stated that the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering adopted Pakistan’s third mutual evaluation report which covered the period from February to October 2018 and identified a number of areas where further actions were required to strengthen the AML/CFT framework.

APG’s Statement

A statement by the APG read,

During the week, APG members adopted six significant mutual reports. The reports – for China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the Philippines and Solomon Islands – were analysed and discussed in detail over two full days and will now be subject to post-plenary quality and consistency review prior to publication. Final publication on the APG website is expected in early October 2019.

Meeting with the Asia Pacific Group

The Pakistani delegation was headed by Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Reza Baqir. During the discussions, Pakistan’s delegation welcomed engagement with the international community in its efforts to counter-terrorism and money laundering.

The delegation briefed APG members on the steps taken in recent times for improving its AML/CFT framework as well as the actions for ensuring effective implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

The Pakistani delegation also held a number of bilateral meetings with key delegations to brief them on recent progress by Pakistan in implementing the FATF Action Plan.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is a member of the APG since 2000. APG is a regional body of FATF and requires its members to undergo mutual evaluation on the compliance of its anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework with FATF recommendations.

During the meetings, Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) also signed an MoU with the China Anti Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Centre (CAMLAC) on the exchange of financial intelligence, the media reported.

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