ISLAMABAD, October 20:
A delegation of the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) has expressed dissatisfaction over Pakistan’s progress to comply with international best practices against money laundering and counter-terror financing.
Informed sources told Dawn that the APG delegation shared its final findings with the authorities of all relevant agencies, highlighting deficiencies in law, regulations and mechanisms and weaknesses of various institutions, and with this pace Pakistan was unlikely to get out of the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The visiting delegation’s Friday meeting was the culmination of its long consultations with the ministries of interior, finance, foreign affairs and law, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), National Counter-Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue, National Accountability Bureau, Anti-Narcotics Force, Financial Monitoring Unit, Central Directorate of National Savings and provincial counter-terrorism departments.
Asia-Pacific Group’s team will visit Pakistan again in March-April for another ‘on-site mutual evaluation’
The APG delegation told these authorities that it would submit its draft report on its findings to Pakistan by Nov 19. The country was asked to submit its response to the findings within 15 days after the receipt of the report on the basis of which the APG would submit its interim report to the FATF in Paris.
Courtesy: DAWN
