Pakistan secures four-months to comply with FATF agenda

To exit the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan has been given another four months (until June 2020) to achieve a 27-point action plan, DAWN reported.

As measures taken by Pakistan in relation to the action plan have been appreciated at the group meetings, according to the report, all members are satisfied with the progress so far and there is no case at all for Pakistan to be blacklisted.

Pakistan has been given an eight-point action plan to comply in the foreseeable future:

1. Demonstrate that remedial actions and sanctions are applied in cases of AML/CFT (anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism) violations relating to terrorist financing (TF) risk management and TF standard obligations
2. Demonstrate that competent authorities are cooperating and taking action to identify and take enforcement action against illegal money or value transfer services
3. Demonstrate the implementation of cross-border currency and BNI controls at all ports of entry, including applying effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions,
4. Demonstrate that law enforcement agencies (LEAs) are identifying and investigating the widest range of TF activity and that TF investigations and prosecutions target designated persons and entities and those acting on behalf or at the direction of the designated persons or entities
5. Demonstrate that TF prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions
6. Demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions (supported by a comprehensive legal obligation) against all 1,267 and 1,373 designated terrorists and those acting for or on their behalf, including preventing the raising and moving of funds, identifying and freezing assets (movable and immovable) and prohibiting access to funds and financial services
7. demonstrate enforcement against TF standard violations, including administrative and criminal penalties, and provincial and federal authorities cooperating on enforcement cases
8. Demonstrate that facilities and services owned or controlled by designated persons are deprived of their resources and the usage of the resources.

To swiftly comply with the benchmarks, meetings are already being held at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and the Ministry of Interior, and an implementation strategy has been shared with Islamabad’s delegation in Paris.