FATF Asia-Pacific Group rates Pakistan low on 10 out of 11 international goals on anti-money laundering, combating terror-finance: Report

Asia-Pacific Group released an update on the rating of its regional members suggesting that Pakistan had a ‘moderate level of effectiveness’ on only one out of 11 outcomes, the media report said.

“The Asia-Pacific Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog for terror-financing and money laundering, has rated Pakistan’s level of effectiveness as ‘low’ on 10 out of 11 international goals on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terror,” a media report said on September 12.

Asia-Pacific Group (APF), the Sydney-based regional affiliate of the FATF, released an update as of September 2 on the rating of its regional members suggesting that Pakistan had a ‘moderate level of effectiveness’ on only one out of 11 outcomes, reported Dawn.

Under this ‘immediate outcome’, Pakistan extends international cooperation on appropriate information, financial intelligence and evidence and facilitates action against criminals and their assets.

“A 15-member joint delegation of FATF and APG paid an onsite visit to Pakistan from August 29 to September 2 to verify the country’s compliance with a 34-point action plan committed with FATF at the highest level in June 2018,” the report said.

The task force had found Pakistan compliant or largely compliant on all the 34 points in February this year and had decided to field an onsite mission to verify it on the ground before formally announcing the country’s exit from the grey list.

Under the FATF-APG assessment mechanism, effective ratings on “Immediate Outcomes” reflect the extent to which a country’s measures are effective.

The assessment is conducted on the basis of 11 immediate outcomes, which represent key goals that an effective on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terror (AML/CFT) system should achieve.