Indian media reports of Pakistan being blacklisted by FATF baseless: Finance Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance on Friday rejected reports in the Indian media stating that Pakistan had been blacklisted by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“Media reports circulating about Pakistan being blacklisted by APG is incorrect and baseless,” said a press release from the ministry. 

“[APG] has put Pakistan in its enhanced follow-up as per APG’s Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures. In line with APG’s Third Round Mutual Evaluation Procedures, Pakistan would be required to submit follow-up progress reports to APG on quarterly basis,” it added. 

The APG in its meeting during the week of 18-23 August adopted Pakistan’s third mutual evaluation report. 

A statement by the APG read, “during the week, APG members adopted six significant mutual reports. The reports – for China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the Philippines and Solomon Islands – were analysed and discussed in detail over two full days and will now be subject to post-plenary quality and consistency review prior to publication. Final publication on the APG website is expected in early October 2019.”

A press release by Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance stated that the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering adopted Pakistan’s third mutual evaluation report which covered the period from February to October 2018 and identified a number of areas where further actions were required to strengthen the AML/CFT framework.

The report did not cover areas in which the Pakistani government made substantial progress since October 2018.

The Pakistani delegation to the meeting was headed by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Reza Baqir. During discussions, Pakistan’s delegation welcomed engagement with the international community in its efforts to counter terrorism and money laundering.

The delegation briefed APG members on the steps taken in recent times for improving its anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework as well as the actions for ensuring effective implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

The Pakistan delegation also held a number of bilateral meetings with key delegations to brief them on recent progress by Pakistan in implementing the FATF Action Plan.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is a member of the APG since 2000. APG is a regional body of FATF and requires its members to undergo mutual evaluation on the compliance of its AML/CFT framework with FATF recommendations.

During the meetings, Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) also signed an MoU with the China Anti Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Centre (CAMLAC) on the exchange of financial intelligence.