Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Asia Pacific Group in its analysis report has declared Pakistan’s performance very poor to control money laundering and financing to terrorist groups in the country, holding that regulators in the country like State Bank of Pakistan and Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan also lack capacity to gauge this matter
LAHORE (Pakistan Point News - 7th Oct, 2019) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Asia Pacific Group in its analysis report has declared Pakistan’s performance very poor to control money laundering and financing to terrorist groups in the country, holding that regulators in the country like State Bank of Pakistan and Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan also lack capacity to gauge this matter. In its analysis report, FATF’s Asia Pacific Group said that regulators like State Bank of Pakistan and Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan have low capacity to understand the complexities of money laundering and terror financing.
The FATA, in its report, categorically said that Pakistan was asked to implement 40 recommendations but it could implement just one, nine recommendations were implemented but not to maximum extent, 26 others were partially implemented and four were completely ignored. FATF’s Asia Pacific group issued this analysis report 10 days before the meeting of International body could start. After this report, Pakistan’s chances to come out of grey list have apparently been vanished.
FATF’s Asia Pacific Group has mentioned terror financing and its various forms in its report and said that Pakistan has many challenges including transnational network of terrorism. The group also underlined Daesh, Jamatud Dawa, Lashkar-i-Tayba, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Haqani network and Al-Qaida as challenges for the country. FATA’s meeting to be held from Oct 13 to Oct 18 in Paris. The group said that the organizations like Tehreek-i-Taliban, Quetta Shura Taliban, Falah-i-Insaniyat and others had been getting funds from many sources.
Financial monitoring Unit, it stated, was also not functioning properly and many criminals who were convicted or found guilty of terror activities were not strictly punished as they should have been. “Many banned organizations, criminals and those involved in crimes related to financial matters have not been strictly punished,” it said adding that” their assets have not attached,”. Pakistan, in counter to the group’s statement, has denied terror financing at larger scale and said that a minor challenge was in its way which also would be overcome. FATF, according to local authorities, put Pakistan on high risk of terror finance but actually there was nothing like this.
