Pakistan won't be removed from FATF grey list immediately

Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Pakistan will not be removed from its ‘grey list’ immediately and a decision in this regard will be taken after an onsite visit. “Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list . It will be removed if the onsite visit finds its actions are sustainable,” said FATF president Marcus Pleyer said. Pleyer further said an onsite inspection would be done before October, and a formal announcement on Pakistan's removal would follow. Pakistan's minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar headed the country's delegation at the FATF plenary meeting held in Berlin between June 14 and 17. The FATF further said Pakistan's continued commitment to combatting terrorist financing and money laundering has led to significant progress. "In addition, Pakistan also largely addressed its 2021 action plan ahead of the set time."

Pakistan was placed in the grey list, or list of countries under increased monitoring, in June 2018 and given a 27-point action plan by FATF to curb terror financing. The country was given another seven-point action plan to counter money laundering last October, after it implemented 26 of the 27 points in the original action plan. FATF concluded during the plenary meet in March that Pakistan implemented 32 of the 34 items in the two action plans.

Moments after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said a decision to remove Pakistan from its ‘grey list’ will be taken after an onsite visit, while lauding the efforts of the government for largely complying with the 2021 action plan, former prime minister Imran Khan said the global terror financing watchdog had repeatedly praised the work and the political will that his regime had demonstrated. Taking to Twitter, Khan, who was ousted from power earlier this year, said his government had not only averted blacklisting but also completed 32 of the 34 action items, adding it submitted a compliance report on the remaining two items in April based on which FATF now declared Pakistan's Action Plan as completed.