FATF puts Pakistan on ‘grey list’ for failing to curb terror financing

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Wednesday officially placed Pakistan on its ‘grey list’ for failing to curb money laundering and terror financing on its soil.

The financial watchdog’s decision to put Pakistan in its ‘Grey List’ was made after a plenary meeting in Paris. Although Pakistan was diplomatically trying to avert the decision but failed to convince the anti-terror financing watchdog.

Pakistan caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar apprised the FATF by the steps taken by Islamabad to curb money laundering and terror financing. However, the watchdog found that the efforts made by Pakistan were not enough and put the country on its 'grey list'.

Earlier in November 2017, during its plenary in Buenos Aires, FATF had asked Pakistan to provide a compliance report on actions taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba and JuD.

Pakistan then secretly amended its Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 to ban the United Nations proscribed terrorist groups. However, the move was a mere eyewash and not a single constructive step was taken against the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba and JuD.

The FATF was established in 1989 to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and combat other related threats to the international financial system.

It maintains a grey and blacklist that identifies countries supporting money laundering and terror financing. This was not the first time that Pakistan has been put on its 'grey list', the Islamic country was on the same list for three years from 2012 to 2015.