Pakistan to stay on FATF grey list over inaction against terror

Pakistan will continue to remain in the greylist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over its failure to take action against United Nations (UN)-listed terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. 

“Pakistan remains under increasing monitoring. It has largely addressed 26 out of 27 items on the action plan,” FATF president Marcus Pleyer was quoted as saying by ANI. 

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“Pakistan is still failing to effectively implement the global FATF standards across a number of areas which means risk of money laundering remain high which in turn can fuel corruption and organised crime”.

Remaining on the grey list will mean Pakistan will continue to struggle to get financial respite from international lenders like the International Monetory Fund (IMF). 

The country, which was put in the grey list three years ago, has been facing difficulty getting out of the list. 

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The FATF has been conducting a virtual session from June 21, which will conclude on June 25, according to a Times of India. The international watchdog reviewed a report by the Asia Pacific Group on Pakistan’s compliance with their action plan. 

It had held discussions on June 23 regarding whether to keep Pakistan on the grey list or not. In October last year, the watchdog asked Pakistan to deliver on all 27 points in the action plan by this February. 

According to Tabadlab, an Islamabad-based think tank, Paksitan has suffered a total of $38 billion in losses due to FATF’s decision to keep it on the grey list thrice since 2008.