Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) has established a compliance unit to ensure the timely completion of requirements of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) action plan, with aims to exit the grey list. The unit will work under counterterrorism wing of the agency and 11 officers have been transferred with immediate effect to work under the unit. Official notification of the action said, “The FATF compliance unit will serve as the focal point for all activities related to the FATF action plan”.
Earlier in June this year, the Joint Group (JG) of the force had recognized efforts of Pakistan to control the money laundering and terror financing, however, they pointed out some loopholes as well. The JG showed mixed remarks on the report submitted by Pakistan earlier and identified requirements on local enforcing agencies to deliver as per the stated targets. The report said that 18 out of the 27 recommended actions were incomplete and significant advancements were required for other eight prohibited outfits.
Pakistan was included in the grey list of FATF in the mid of last year, after getting less than three votes as its friends had their own political focuses to verify in the worldwide watchdogs. Later then, Pakistan managed to avoid being placed in the Blacklist after getting 3 successful votes from China, Turkey, and Malaysia.
Pakistan aims to exit the ‘grey list’, for which it needs favor of 15 members out of the 36. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had claimed that the UK has also agreed to support Pakistan on the subject matter. Other members of the task force include the US, Russia, Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, etc.
Pakistan has been making forceful strides regarding administrative and observing instrument to meet the FATF prerequisites and its legitimate framework is commonly sufficient, aside from certain corrections to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 pending before the National Assembly’s standing board of trustees on fund and income. Recent action was taken against Chief of banned organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Muhammad Saeed over terror financing was also in line with the action plan.
