Pakistan to be placed on FATF ‘grey list’ in June: FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office on Wednesday confirmed that Pakistan would be placed a grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in June this year.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing, FO spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said “Pakistan will be assigned to the ‘grey list’ in June, once an Action Plan has been mutually negotiated.”

The spokesman, however, contradicted media reports that Pakistan was likely to be put on a ‘black’ list.

“The statement that Pakistan will be transferred from the ‘grey’ to the ‘black’ list in June this year, is therefore not true. The FATF website clearly demarcates the countries in ‘black’ list, as those who are non-cooperative,” he said.

Commenting on specific demands made by FATF, the spokesman said certain deficiencies in the Anti Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) framework of Pakistan have been highlighted.

“The Government of Pakistan, over the last few years, has taken a number of measures to address these issues, including through enactment of legislation, issuance of regulations and guidelines by SBP and SECP to the financial sector, establishment of the Financial Monitoring Unit and implementation of UNSC 1267 sanctions on the entities of concern (JuD/FIF),” he elaborated.

“We will take further actions for addressing any remaining deficiencies,” he added.

Getting differing signals from US

“We continue to get differing signals from different parts of the US Government,” he said.

“General Votel, as you mentioned, appreciated the positive indicators from Pakistan. Pakistan has made immense efforts to address issues related to counter-terrorism. We continue to ask the US for actionable evidence.”

Ambassador Curtis called on the Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting took place in the context of our regular and continuous engagement with the US. The main agenda of the meeting of the Foreign Secretary with Ms.

Lisa Curtis was to exchange views and understand each other’s perspective on how to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. Both sides have a desire to work together to pursue our common objective of stabilizing Afghanistan.

The main agenda of the meeting of the Foreign Secretary with Ms. Lisa Curtis was to exchange views and understand each other’s perspective on how to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. Both sides have a desire to work together to pursue our common objective of stabilizing Afghanistan.  – SAMAA