Inaction on terror funding could see Pakistan in black list
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pakistan failed on 10 of the 11 parameters it was assessed on. APG is the regional affiliate of the FATF and its decisions have a large bearing on the organisation’s decisions on Pakistan.
- At the annual general meeting in Canberra, APG is currently assessing Pakistan’s Mutual Evaluation Report on strengthening anti-money laundering and countering financing terrorism safeguards.
NEW DELHI: Pakistan faces an uphill battle at the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) for inaction on terrorism finance and money laundering and its poor compliance may keep it on an extended grey list or, as some members said, tip it over into the black list that will bring stiffer restrictions.
Pakistan failed on 10 of the 11 parameters it was assessed on. APG is the regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its decisions have a large bearing on the organisation’s decisions on Pakistan.
At the annual general meeting in Canberra, APG is currently assessing Pakistan’s Mutual Evaluation Report on strengthening anti-money laundering and countering financing terrorism safeguards. APG’s decision will be made public on Friday.
Reza Baqir, governor of Pakistan’s State Bank, is leading a 10-member team to defend Pakistan’s actions. Thus far, Pakistan’s performance on regulation and supervision of its financial sectors has been assessed as poor.
An official statement by the Pakistan finance ministry, however, says “The report does not cover areas in which government of Pakistan has made substantial progress since October 2018”.
A thumbs down at Canberra is not good news for Pakistan as it again puts the spotlight on its inability and even sponsorship of terrorism at a time when it is waging a desperate diplomatic battle against the defanging of J&K’s special status.
At the APG meetings, things don’t look good for Pakistan. It has said it has improved systems and actions on 50 parameters, but the claims have not not yet stood up to scrutiny. Pakistan has also got failing grades in 32 of 40 compliance parameters.
Pakistan has till September to take action on 27 items before the FATF plenary in October. According to reports, Pakistan submitted its compliance report on FATF to the APG as well, which is being assessed. But Pakistan’s non-compliance may make it difficult for APG and FATF to pull Islamabad out of hot water. Despite having “all weather” ally China as the chair of FATF, Pakistan faces a bleak future on terror funding.
China will certainly try to prevent Pakistan’s blacklisting in FATF as will Turkey and Saudi Arabia. US is more likely to use the grey list as leverage to get Pakistan to behave more responsibly — both in respect to the Afghan peace process and on terror against India.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/inaction-on-terror-funding-could-see-pakistan-in-black-list/articleshow/70796159.cms
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