No Relief For Pakistan, To Remain On FATF Grey List

New Delhi: Pakistan will stay on the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global terrorist financing watchdog, as it failed to fulfil six of the 27 mandates to halt terror funding.

In a virtual plenary held over three days, Paris-based FATF came to the conclusion that Pakistan will maintain its ‘grey’ list status, The Times of India reported.

FATF president Marcus Pleyer said, “Pakistan needs to do more on checking terror funding and must impose sanction and prosecute those involved in terror financing”.

A FATF statement said: “To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 21 of the 27 action items. As all action plan deadlines have expired, the FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2021.”

The terrorist financing watchdog also said that the six conditions Pakistan is yet to fulfil are “serious deficiencies”. Among them is the failure to take action against all UN-designated terrorists.

FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018, while directing the country to implement an action plan to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019. However, on account of COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline was extended later.

Its continued ‘grey list’ status will make it difficult for debt-ridden Pakistan to avail financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union.

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