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PAKISTAN-FATF-FM
Pakistan FM vows to address deficiencies in anti-money laundering system
ISLAMABAD, Sept 1, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – Pakistan’s Finance Minister (FM)
Asad Umer said on Friday that the government will address all 27 deficiencies
pointed out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the country’s anti-
money laundering system earlier this year.
Addressing to the Senate, the upper house of the country’s parliament, the
minister said that the National Executive Committee (NEC) headed by himself
will review the action plan so as to handle the deficiencies related to
currency smuggling and alleged terror financing by proscribed organizations
in Pakistan.
On June 30 this year, the FATF formally put Pakistan in a grey list and
identified it as a country with “strategic deficiencies” in its anti-money
laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, notifying the steps the
country must take to address the shortcomings.
Pakistan made a commitment to the action plan, which it would implement
over the next 13 months. Failure to negotiate the action plan could lead
Pakistan to the blacklist, the FATF statement said in June.
The deficiencies identified in Pakistani anti-money laundering and
counterterrorism financing regime include inadequate monitoring and
regulatory mechanisms, low conviction rate on unlawful transactions, poor
implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and cross-
border illicit movement of currency by terrorist groups.
The FATF said it would “closely monitor” Pakistan’s efforts to implement
its action plan to accomplish the above objectives through legal, regulatory
and operational reforms.
Umer told the Senate that a FATF delegation visited Pakistan earlier in
August to review the steps taken by Pakistan.
“The government is taking steps to overcome the deficiencies identified by
the FATF,” said the minister, adding that Pakistan had reservations about the
procedure used for putting Pakistan on the grey list and that there is no
chance of any kind of immediate sanctions on Pakistan.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/0934 hrs