June 17, 2022 (MLN): The global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced an onsite visit to Pakistan to check the real implementation of laws/procedures before announcing its decision on whether Pakistan will be removed from the list.
The decision was taken by the FATF after a four-day plenary session which ended today.
FATF has found Pakistan compliant with all of the 34 action items assigned and it “warrants an on-site visit to verify that the implementation of Pakistan’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained.
The on-site review will occur before the next Plenary meeting which will be held from 16 to 21 October 2022. The onsite inspection will be two-phased where the team will review the sustainability of the action items and ensure the actions are irreversible.
Last time, before removing Pakistan from the grey list in February 2015, the FATF’s Regional Review Group visited Pakistan in December 2014 for an onsite review of AML/CFT reforms.
Since June 2018, Pakistan’s continued political commitment to combating both terrorist financing and money laundering has led to significant progress.
In particular, Pakistan demonstrated that TF investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups and that there is a positive upwards trend in the number of ML investigations and prosecutions being pursued in Pakistan.
In addition, Pakistan also largely addressed its 2021 action plan ahead of the set times.
At its June 2022 Plenary, the FATF made the initial determination that Pakistan has substantially completed its two action plans, covering 34 items, and warrants an on-site visit to verify that the implementation of Pakistan’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is
being sustained and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain
implementation and improvement in the future.
The FATF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and conduct an on-site visit at
the earliest possible date.
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