Current Affairs

Issue

The FATF has retained Pakistan on its “grey list” and asked the country to address the deficiencies.

 

Background

Pakistan is on the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since June 2018.

 

Details

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.

• It has accused Pakistan of failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing. Islamabad had time till October 2019 to address the concerns.

• The watchdog has appreciated some of the measures taken by Pakistan to fight financial crimes. It has however not completely acted on its commitment.

• With the help of countries such as Malaysia, Turkey and China, Pakistan has so far been successful in avoiding the black list.

 

Measures by Pakistan

• The country has committed to strengthen its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies.

• The organization has asked Pakistan to target terror financing investigations and prosecutions on senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups.

 

FATF

• The inter-governmental organization was established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

• The group currently has 39 members including two regional organizations in form of European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.