ISLAMABAD: Military officers in the two highly sensitive positions: General Director of Military Operations (DGMO) and General Director of Intelligence between Services (ISI), can be part of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on terrorist financing and money laundering. since the federal cabinet will meet on Tuesday (today) to decide the matter.
It will be for the first time in the country's history that military officers in the two key positions will become members of any national agency to counteract money laundering if the federal cabinet approves the request of the finance division, although in early June Prime Minister Imran Khan had included the Chief of the Army General Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a 13-member National Development Council (NDC).
At the meeting on Tuesday, the cabinet will also make a decision on the inclusion of federal Minister of Economic Affairs, Hammad Azhar, in the NEC, since according to the agenda of the cabinet meeting, the finance division has sought "the Federal government approval regarding the inclusion of the Minister of Economic Affairs as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Director General of Military Operations and Director General [c] ISI as members of the General Committee (GC) under Sections 5 and 5 (4) of the AML Act, 2010 ".
Prime Minister Khan had included Gen Bajwa in the beginning of June in a 13-member NDC that was established to establish policies and strategies for development and "formulate and adapt policies to achieve accelerated economic growth." The NDC is also responsible for approving long-term planning in relation to national and regional connectivity.
The cabinet will make a decision today; The minister-led coordination committee will probably work under NEC to remove Pakistan from the FATF gray list.
More recently, the prime minister would have approved a new strategy for the implementation of 27 conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) based in Paris to remove Pakistan from its gray list and the inclusion of senior military officers and the federal minister Economics division of affairs in NEC is part of the strategy.
According to reports, another 12-member National Coordinating Committee (NCC), headed by Minister Azhar, to ensure the execution of all tasks related to the FATF until December 1, will work under the NEC.
Other members of the NCC are three senior officials of the Army Headquarters (GHQ), secretaries of foreign affairs, internal affairs and finance, as well as the heads of all regulatory institutions and agencies related to money laundering and terrorist financing. They include the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), president of the Pakistan Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP), general director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), member (customs) of the Federal Revenue Board (FBR) ) and DG of the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).
Prior to the establishment of NCC, the finance minister or the advisor to the prime minister of finance together with the secretary of finance used to direct all activities related to money laundering and the fight against terrorist financing (AML / CFT) to fulfill the objectives set by the FATF and its region affiliated with the Asia-Pacific Group (AGP) under a comprehensive action plan to exit the gray list of the global control agency on financial crimes.
Pakistan is currently being monitored at three different but interrelated levels: APG, the United States and the FATF, which would determine the possible exit of the country from the FATF gray list.
In July, the National Anti-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) had declared two more teams, Hizbul Ahrar and Balochistan Raaji Ajoi Sangar (BRAS), as organizations banned under Section 11-B of the Anti-Terror Law, increasing the number total of equipment prohibited in the country to 73.
Pakistan has hired technical assistance providers as consultants in key institutions such as FBR, SECP, FMU and SBP with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to complete the action plan and further strengthen the effectiveness of the AML / CFT regime.
Federal Cabinet Meeting Agenda
Other important decisions that the cabinet is expected to make are about the construction of skyscrapers in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan; reconstitution of the board of directors of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited; restructuring of the board of directors of Pakistan Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (PLL); termination of the contract of the executive director / managing director of Pakistan LNG Limited; restructuring of the board of directors of government holdings and scale of management position concession (MP-I) to Dr. Aamer Ahmed, chairman of the Evacuate Trust Property Board
Posted on Dawn, October 29, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1513484/dgmo-isi-official-may-help-curb-terror-financing