FATF cell established in interior ministry to ensure implementation on action plan – Business

The interior ministry has established a FATF (Financial Action Task Force) cell to ensure the effective and timely implementation of the FATF action plan.

According to a notice issued on Monday, four officers associated with the National Anti-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) were admitted to the cell.

Nacta General Director Munir Masood, Dur-e-Maqnoon Director, Deputy Director Habibur Rehman and Deputy Director Mufti Mohammad Yaqoob have recently been members of the cell, while an additional secretary of the ministry heads him.
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In early July, the Federal Revenue Board (FBR) had also established a similar FATF cell to ensure the implementation of anti-terrorist financing measures carried out through currency smuggling.

The cell in FBR searches for the information required for the work related to the FATF. It serves as a focal point for all activities related to customs compliance with FATF matters.

The FATF, a global control agency for money laundering and terrorist financing, earlier this month gave Pakistan a four-month lifeline, urging Islamabad to honor its commitments by February 2020.

The Paris-based FATF gave the lifeline after reviewing the measures taken and the progress made by Pakistan. The global control agency warned of the action in case the next plenary scheduled for February 2020 does not achieve significant and sustainable progress across the entire range of the action plan. The action, he added, could include the FATF calling its members and urging all jurisdictions to advise their financial institutions to pay special attention to trade relations and transactions with Pakistan.

"To date, Pakistan has only largely addressed five of the 27 elements of action, with different levels of progress in the rest of the action plan," the note had read.

In 2012, Pakistan was included in the gray list where it remained until 2015. The country was included again on the list on June 29, 2018. Pakistan received 15 months for the implementation of the 27-point action plan, with a warning that In the event of failure, the country would be added to the blacklist, a list of countries classified as non-cooperative and tax havens for terrorist financing.

Currently, only Iran and North Korea are blacklisted.