Four years after it was placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” and penalised with severe financial strictures by the Financial Action Task Force, Pakistan has got a major reprieve. The international watchdog on terror financing and money laundering has agreed to remove Pakistan’s name from the list of countries under “increased monitoring”.
India reacts to Pakistan’s exit from FATF
Arindam Bagchi, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson, responded to the development, saying he was aware of Pakistan’s exit from FATF.
Arindam Bagchi said, “We understand that Pakistan will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to further improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) /Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system.”
“As a result of FATF scrutiny, Pakistan has been forced to take some action against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11,” MEA official spokesperson added.
He further said that “It is in global interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control.”
What FATF said?
The FATF said that Pakistan is “no longer subject to FATF’s increased monitoring process. The country would continue to work with APG (Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering) to further improve its AML/CFT (anti-money laundering & counter-terrorist financing) system.”
What is FATF?
An inter-governmental body, the FATF has been established to combat money laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
