A Pakistan Minister has said that the country has met most of the conditions set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris-based global watchdog, against financial crimes.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah presented a report to Prime Minister Imran Khan, which said: “Despite the challenges of the task assigned and concerns pertaining to internal security, the ministry was able to deliver by meeting the majority of the requirements of the FATF and taking some kinetic and non-kinetic measures including legislative amendments,” reports The Express Tribune.
The FATF formally placed Pakistan in its grey list in June 2018, asserting that the country has failed to take necessary measures against terror financing on its soil.
The global body gave the country 15-month-time to implement its 27-point action plan.
In October 2019, the organisation gave four more months to Islamabad to avoid its blacklist that could result in a freeze of capital flows to the country and slow progress in refinancing and re-profiling loans from major bilateral creditors.
On February 21, 2020 the global financial watchdog decided not to blacklist Pakistan and gave four more months till end June to complete its action plan as a “vast majority of FATF members recognised Islamabad’s enormous efforts to improve its counter-terror financing regime”.
Shah’s report also stated that the Interior Ministry proscribed two main and 11 affiliated organisations as well as froze 976 movable and immovable properties of proscribed outfits.
Without mentioning the total number, it said, the Ministry took over schools, colleges, hospitals, dispensaries, ambulances etc, of the proscribed organisations into government’s control.
Conviction of 200 plus main individuals and supporters as well as recovery of funds amounting to 2,400 million PKR for management of taken over facilities were also listed as achievements in the report.
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