19.10.19

FATF: Malaysia, Turkey & China help Pak stay out of blacklist

Paris-based international terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force kept Pakistan on the Grey List and warned that the country would be blacklisted if it failed to take action against terror funding and money laundering by February, when the next plenary is due.

A statement issued by the global body said, “Strongly urge(d) Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2020. Otherwise, should significant and sustainable progress not be made across the full range of its action plan by next Plenary, the FATF will take action.”

At the end of the plenary, FATF voiced concern over Pakistan’s failure to act on its 27-point action plan with Islamabad showing compliance only in five of them. Pakistan has consistently underperformed on all the parameters that had been set for it, particularly on the 27-point action plan, going past 15-month deadline.

Islamabad needed three votes to stay out of the blacklist, which it secured from Malaysia, Turkey and China. However, in the discussions, there was a general consensus on a few things — first that Pakistan was not in compliance on most of the action items; second, China would lead the brigade to keep Pakistan out of the blacklist. Sources present at the discussions said China, US, Germany, France, UK, Turkey and Malaysia, among others, agreed to this enhanced warning to Pakistan, creating a consensus.

The FATF statement said global financial institutions would be instructed to pay “special attention to business relations and transactions with Pakistan”. This is the same language which has been used for Iran, already on the Black List.

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