No justification to keep Pakistan in FATF grey list: FM

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said as Pakistan had fulfilled 26 out of 27 action items of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), there was no justification to keep the country in the grey list.

The foreign minister in a statement mentioned that Pakistan had fulfilled maximum technical requirements regarding FATF.

The five-day virtual meeting of the FATF began on June 21 in Paris, France and will public its findings on June 25.

Qureshi said India was making attempts to misuse the forum of FATF for political purposes and doing continuous propaganda against Pakistan.

He said Pakistan took concrete steps to curb money-laundering and terrorist financing in national interest.

He pointed out that Pakistan “inherited” the problem of FATF Grey-listing from the previous government.

However, he said, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan did its best to get Pakistan out of the Grey list.

The foreign minister said the world was acknowledging Pakistan’s efforts in implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

The steps taken by Pakistan included promulgation of strict laws against money laundering, and freezing the assets and filing of cases against banned organizations.

Resultantly, the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering improved Pakistan’s rating against money laundering and terror financing.

Also, the Pakistan European Union Joint Commission welcomed Pakistan’s progress in implementation of FATF points.

The FATF is being employed by some of its member countries as a political coercion tool against Pakistan. Despite solid evidence of money laundering and terrorist funding being rampant in countries like India and Afghanistan, they are being spared due to political reasons.

The experts believe that due to geopolitical interests of FATF member countries, the platform is ignoring India’s money laundering activities including its expansive illegal money laundering network in the form of “hawala”.

Several Indian companies have been providing material support to ISIS, as per the UK-based Conflict Armament Research.

According to the United State government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Indian state-owned banks are involved in money laundering and financing acts of terrorism.

The situation at present demands from the international bodies such as the United Nation to look into misuse of the FATF platform and take India into account for money laundering and terror financing besides manipulating the FATF against Pakistan.