Mor

epr
ogr
essneeded
Edi
tor
ialUpdat
ed13Oct2020
I
Thasbeenov ertwoyearssi
ncePaki
stanwasplacedont heFATFgr eyli
st.Duringthi
sper
iod,
I
slamabadhasamended‫ﯿﻢﮐﯽ‬ ‫ﻣ‬
‫ﺮ‬‫ﺗ‬numer
ouslawsandt akensev er
alacti
onstor emovethe
weaknessesinitsAML/CFTregimetoaddr
essFATFconcer nsov ermoneyl aunderi
ng‫ﻮﺕ‬‫ﺭﺷ‬
‫ﺭﯼ‬
‫ﻮ‬ ‫ﺧ‬andterr
orf i
nanci
ng.Butt
hesemeasureshavenotimpr essedtheglobalbody.

Sincetheexactdet
ail
soft heFATF’sdemandsr emai nshrouded‫ﺍ‬‫ﻮ‬‫ﻔﻦﮨ‬‫ﮐ‬i
nunnecessary
secrecy‫ﺭ‬
‫ﺯ‬i
‫ﺍ‬ti
shardtoweighwhatt hegovernmentchoosest otell
t hepeopleagai
nstwhatt
he
FATFhasdi vul
gedsof ar
.Hence,it
’sdi
ffi
cultt
oev aluat
e‫ﮦ‬‫ﺯ‬‫ﺍ‬‫ﺪ‬‫ﻧ‬
‫ﺍ‬thedecisi
onoft heAsi
aPacif
ic
Group,theFATF’sr
egionalaff
il
iat
e,toret
ainPakistaninthe‘enhancedf ol
low-up’
li
st.

TheAPGhasacknowl edgedt hatthecount r

yhasmade“ somepr ogress”i naddressingt he
defici
encies‫ﻮﮞ‬‫ﯿ‬
‫ﻤ‬‫ﮐ‬ini
tsf r
amewor ktof i
ghtmoneyl aunder i
ngandt errorfinanci
ng.Itsl at
est
report,f
orexample,concedest hatIslamabadhasmader obust‫ﻮﻁ‬‫ﺒ‬‫ﻣﻀ‬pr ogresson27act i
on
points,i
ncludi
nglegi
slati
oni n15ar eas,recommendedbyt heFATF, andt hatmeasur eshad
beent akentoreducev ul
nerabili
ty‫ﺎ‬
‫ﻧ‬‫ﻮ‬‫ﺭﮨ‬‫ﺎ‬
‫ﻭﭼ‬‫ﺮﮮﺳﮯﺩ‬ ‫ﺧﻄ‬ofnat ionalsavi
ngs, PakistanPostandr eal
estatedealerst
omoneyl aunderingandt errorfi
nancing.Yetitdoesn’tfi
ndmaj orchangesi n
technicalcompli
ance,notingthatthei mprov ementisnot“ suff
ici
ent”.Thus, t
hepr ogresson
FATFr ecommendat i
onsi nlargepar tremainsunchangedf rom ayearago.

I
tisunclearwhetherthereportwil
lhav eanyi mpactont heFATF’sdecisi
ont or
emov efr
om or
retai
nPakist
anont hegreyli
stinitsmeet i
ngstarti
ngOct21.Manyar ehopeful
thatPaki
stanwil
l
bemov edoutofthelistasthelatestreviewi sbasedont hecountr
y’sperf
ormanceuntil
Februar
ythisyear.I
slamabadhassi ncemadesubst ant
ial
‫ﻓﯽ‬‫ﺎ‬‫ﮐ‬pr
ogressont he
recommendat i
ons,eventhoughissuesr elatedtoenforcementremain.

ForeignMinisterShahMahmoodQur eshiexpectsthecountr
ytobet
akenoutofthegreyli
st
“soon”.Howsoon?Hedi dn’
tspecif
y.Hehi mselfappearsunawar
eoftheoutcomeofthe
plenary‫ﻤﻞ‬
‫ﮑ‬‫ﻣ‬.Pakistanneedsthesuppor tofami ni
mum of12membercount r
iesofthe39-
memberFATFt oexitthegreyl
ist.Chancesarewemaynotbeabl et
osecuretherequi
red
supportinthef ort
hcomingFATFmeet ingbutwi l
lgetmoretimet
owor konourAML/CFT
regime.
Never
thel
ess,itist
imef ort
heworl
dtoappreciat
ePakist
an’
sef
for
tsandt
hewill
i
ngnessofthe
count
ry’
sleadershi
pt odomoretocomplywiththeFATF’
smandat
esothatPaki
stancanbe
removedfrom thegreyl
ist.

Att hesamet ime,I

slamabadmustbemor etranspar
entandstepupitseffor
tstocreatea
strongerl
egal fr
amewor k,
whichisatparwi
thglobalAML/CFTstandardsandFATF
requirements.Byensuri
ngt r
anspar
ency‫ﯿﺖ‬‫ﻓ‬
‫ﺎ‬‫ﻔ‬‫ﺷ‬,i
twil
lbeablet
oef f
ecti
velyquashconcernsthat
someoft herecentchangesinthel
awsaremeantmor etohunttheoppositi
onleadershi
prather
thanmeett heFATF’ sdemands.

Publ
i
shedi
nDawn,
Oct
ober13t
h,2020