Pakistan is set to leave the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list on October 21 after topping the dreaded chart for over four years.
The Financial Action Task Force Plenary will take place this week in Paris. Delegates will discuss key issues in the fight against money laundering & terrorist financing, including a report about the money laundering risks linked to fentanyl.
See more ➡️ https://t.co/tVGdPkynou pic.twitter.com/vfeQmiNRz7— FATF (@FATFNews) October 17, 2022
A 15-member team of the money-laundering watchdog recently completed its onsite visit to Pakistan on September 2, with the final decision on the country’s grey list status now expected at its next meeting set to take place in Paris this week.
“The first FATF Plenary under T. Raja Kumar’s two-year Singapore Presidency will take place on October 20-21, 2022,” the FATF announced. Panelists from 206 Global Network members and observer organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Bank, Interpol, and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, will attend the Working Group and Plenary meetings in Paris, according to an official statement.
Delegates will discuss key issues in the fight against money laundering & terrorist financing, including a report about the money laundering risks linked to fentanyl.
The decision on Pakistan’s status would be announced at the end of the two-day deliberations. It is expected that the FATF Onsite team’s report on Pakistan will be discussed at the plenary meetings.
Pakistani authorities are of the view that after four years of hard work, it has not only achieved a high level of technical compliance with FATF standards but also ensured a high level of effectiveness through the implementation of two comprehensive FATF action plans.
It is noteworthy that the FATF found Pakistan largely compliant on all 34 points in June this year and decided to send an onsite mission to verify it on the ground before formally announcing the country’s exit from the grey list, which occurred in August and September.
In terms of technical compliance with FATF standards, Pakistan was rated “compliant or largely compliant” in 38 of 40 recommendations, placing the country among the top FATF-compliant countries in the world.
Pakistan was officially placed on the FATF grey list for the third time on June 28, 2018, and it has been taking measures for its exclusion since.
The country was first placed on the FATF grey list after it failed to meet the international anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terrorism (CFT) standards in 2008. In 2010 Pakistan made its exit from the list after improving its AML/CFT regime. However, Pakistan was again placed on the grey list in 2012 and remained on the list till 2015.
