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Update of FATF Meeting: Outcomes FATF Plenary, 21-23 February 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Financial Action Task Force on Friday decided to place Pakistan back on its terror financing watch-list on a list of countries that financially aid terrorism with effect from June but Islamabad believed the decision was politically motivated that may affect its future cooperation.

Despite initially agreeing to Pakistan’s viewpoint, the FATF Plenary decided to place the country on the Grey List from June, confirmed a senior government official who attended FATF meetings in Paris, France. Pakistan was previously on the Grey List from 2012 to 2015.

The federal government does not see any major impact of the FATF’s decision on its economy and the country’s de-facto finance minister said that during 2012 to 2015 period, Pakistan signed agreements with the International Monetary Fund and issued sovereign bonds in international capital markets.

Sources claim Pakistan back on FATF watch-list, govt says no ‘official intimation’ yet

Pakistan’s financial system was strong and its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes were among the most stringent in the world, said Dr Miftah Ismail.

The decision is seen as being against the norms of the FATF and its sister organisations, as the country’s Mutual Evaluation – a process of assessing levels of implementation of FATF recommendations, was currently undergoing.

The Mutual Evaluations also provide an in-depth description and analysis of each country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system.

The decision to place a member country on the FATF list is usually taken in light of the Mutual Evaluation, so FATF’s latest move suggests that Pakistan was falling victim to international politics, government officials said while requesting anonymity.

“Pakistan has serious concerns and objections to the introduction of this new nomination procedure, which is unprecedented and in clear violation of the established rules and practices of FATF”, the FO spokesman said on Friday.

Most of the concerns raised by the US regarding deficiencies in our Counter Financing Terrorism and Anti money laundering regime had already been addressed in 2015, when Pakistan was taken off the “grey list”.

Where from here

Now, FATF would require Pakistan to submit an Action Plan in May in order to be removed from the list in the coming months or years. Once the FATF approves this Action Plan in June, there will be a formal announcement from FATF about placing Pakistan on the Grey List.

If Pakistan fails to submit a plan, the FATF has the option of placing the country on its Black List, which carries adverse implications. This limits Pakistan’s ability to decide whether it should cooperate with the FATF or not due to the global body’s ‘unjust decision’.

The US and UK jointly submitted a resolution to the FATF nominating Pakistan for placement in the Grey List. France and Germany subsequently joined this nomination.

Reforms issues

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global standard setting body for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

About two and half years ago, the global body had struck off Pakistan’s name after the country agreed to take actions against Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) and Lashakar Tayiba.

However, some of these actions remained pending, and Pakistan only finished checking the off about two months ago. During the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) session that took place a day before FATF plenary, some member countries had raised the question that there was no analysis available to judge Pakistan’s action, said the officials.

Upon this Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Miftah Ismail offered that Pakistan was ready to submit a report on its action plan and after that the FATF should take the decision, the officials said. At that point, Japan supported Pakistan’s view that action should be taken on the basis of the evidence.

The ICRG agreed to this proposal that Pakistan would take certain measures to address the international community’s concerns and in light of those measures the FATF should take steps in future, according to the officials.

China also advised Pakistan to sign an agreement with the FATF on the measures that it would take in next three months, said the officials.

The pre plenary meeting ended on this positive note and this was also the reason behind Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s tweet in which he announced that FATF deferred the decision for three months and asked the Asia Pacific Group for another report on Pakistan, according to the officials.

However, to the surprise of Pakistani authorities, the US used its influence and turned the tables on Pakistan by influencing the other countries and to have them to first analyze the actions that Pakistan has already taken, according to the people who attended the meeting.

The FATF decided to place Pakistan on the grey list on the undue pressure from the United States, according to Pakistani authorities. They claim that during the meeting when the representative of Gulf Cooperation Council raised hand to speak, the US representative rushed to the GCC seat and asked the representative not to speak, according to the officials.

The FATF decision, which is against its norms, could frustrate Pakistan’s genuine efforts and the government will decide whether it should cooperate with a global body that is playing in the hands of the US, said the Pakistani authorities.

The officials said that the only weak area was that Pakistani courts were convicting terrorists but were not imposing fines on them on charges of terrorism financing.

Tweet too soon

On February 20, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif had claimed on Twitter that there was no consensus for nominating Pakistan for listing, and that a three-month pause had been proposed. He also said that listing would be reconsidered in June.

Foreign analysts suggested that the late push against Pakistan may have been provoked by the leaking of information from the FATF meeting, with some pointing specifically to Asif’s tweet.
Falsehood spread by sick-minded Indians.The report issued at the end of the day didn't even mention that it was even discussed during the meeting. Agenda items included in the report but this report has nothing related to Pakistan.

It's a big powerful slap on the red *** of Trump and black one of Modi.

I know now these idiots will start talking bullsh!t like it'll be included in June, blah, blah, blah. Just shameless liars.
 
Buddy, PAKISTAN is already put on grey list and PAKISTAN will present an action plan by June to avoid blacklist is my understanding. Lets see who is right, things will get clear when your FM discloses entire fiasco.


Buffy is there any official communication??
 
Jahil kaum ha India. Hope they all burn in hell. I apologise unconditionally to all for my previous emotional outburst. My hot headedness got the better of me. I am still very confused to as what's actually happening. Conflicting reports all around.
No problem mate but I just wanted to make a point, for you and for everyone else, that never trust Gangadeshis when they speak about Pakistan. We have to verify it before believing it, forming up opinions and most importantly spreading it. That's why when I read those threads, my first reaction was that this news is most likely to be false because it was being spread by Gangadeshis. They have hardwired obsession and hate against Pakistan and Islam. Furthermore, their culture and religion do not do anything to make them behave ethically. So even if the news has been proven to be false, none of the slum dogs from Gangadesh will apologise. So you see what kind of pathetic and vile people we are dealing with? That's why any hope of peace is nothing but a wishful thinking or a fool's dream. Their hate for Pakistan determines the outcome of their elections, their national policies, their friendships and enmities.
 
Well the Fatf website does not mention Pakistan at all, so I will take it as that, seems terrible journalism and mis-reporting.
 
So when is Jang Group & Dunya being prosecuted for the fake news and the stock market crash?

This is what happens when SC is lenient to scums like them.
 
I think the below tweet explains the confusion. Looks like Pakistan has asked time till June before it is placed in grey list. So this basically means they said, please do not put us on list, give time till June to rectify if we do not do so, you can put us on grey list. Some people think this is victory, I might not agree.


https://tribune.com.pk/story/1643185/1-pakistan-go-fatf-terror-financing-list-june/

This explains it more better.

India placed on FATF Secret Grey list.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/india-placed-on-fatf-secret-grey-list.545836/
 
By
Chris Kay
,
Kamran Haider
, and
Faseeh Mangi
February 23, 2018, 6:04 AM EST Updated on February 23, 2018, 10:21 AM EST
  • Pakistan to be returned to list for first time since 2015
  • Economic hardship will help terrorism: Pakistan minister
1000x-1.jpg

Photographer: Banaras Khan/Bloomberg
Pakistan will be placed back onto an international terrorism-financing watch list from June, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a move that may hinder the country’s access to financial markets.



The move follows a push from the U.S., U.K., France and Germany to get Pakistan placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s “grey” monitoring list during a review meeting in Paris this week. China, which is financing more than $50 billion of infrastructure projects across Pakistan, removed its earlier objections to the move, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. Pakistan’s benchmark stock index reversed earlier gains and fell 0.6 percent at the close in Karachi.



A statement from FATF after the Paris meeting on Friday made no mention of Pakistan. Technically the South Asian nation has three months to convince the body that it has acted against terror organizations, though it will be difficult for them in practice, the person said. Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said no consensus had been reached to put Pakistan on the list and that the nation had been given a three-month “pause.” Officials at Pakistan’s finance ministry couldn’t immediately comment.



Donald Trump said Pakistan gave “lies and deceit” in return for American funding. FATF removed the nuclear-armed nation after three years in 2015 from a list of countries which are subjected to regular monitoring.



‘More Pressure’
Being placed on the list may impede Pakistan’s access to global markets at a time when its foreign reserves are dwindling and external deficits are widening ahead of national elections in July. Yet during the previous period under FATF monitoring Pakistan managed to negotiate an International Monetary Fund bailout and continued to tap the international bond market.

“Gradually the U.S. is coming up with more pressure,” Shamoon Tariq, the Stockholm-based vice chief investment officer at Tundra Fonder AB, said before the decision. If the U.S. “puts more pressure on the World Bank and IMF on future funding, that would be a real challenge.”

Last week Pakistan vigorously tried to avoid inclusion to the list and said the U.S. had voiced concerns about the freedom with which the suspected planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed, and his organizations operated in the country.

Last week, Pakistan announced that it changed a law and now allowed its security forces to take action against groups on the UN Security Council list -- such as Saeed’s charities which are alleged fronts for militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. It also seized dozens of offices, buildings, seminaries and ambulances belonging to Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

‘Economic Hardship’
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also said in an interview this month that in the last two to three months Pakistan has “more or less complied” with sanctions against Saeed’s organizations. However, Abbasi said more action against Saeed himself was unlikely as “we have no charges against him.” India says it has provided evidence against Saeed to Pakistan.

On Thursday, White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump was not yet satisfied with Pakistan’s progress in fighting terrorism. However, Pakistan’s government has said any financial squeeze will ultimately aid extremism.

“If Pakistan faces any economic hardship because of this, it’s going to affect our budget and capacity to fight the anti-terrorism war,” Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal told reporters in Islamabad on Monday. “The question is whether these nations want to help terrorists or the war against terrorism?”

— With assistance by Ismail Dilawar

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ntrol-of-anbang-insurance-for-1-year-jdz9l5fp
 
@egodoc222 and @Tom M

You clowns, I couldn't reply to you on other thread as it was made inactive.

Now carry on with your verbal diarrhoea here about how great Indian diplomacy is. LOL. Forget about India, yahan tu tumharay baap Amreeka ki bhi MC hogaee. Indian establishment and RAW need to find a hakeem , a soothsayer, they are constantly suffering and prematurely ejaculating on their billion plus nation, making absolute chutiya of the masses and embarrassing them. :D

This is another NSG in making. Rude awakening to America and her allies that old world order is well and truly buried. Those among them who are in denial, will keep on having egg on their face.
Lol looks like I twitched your nerve there...get well soon buddy!!
 
But there is a conflicting report.

Pakistan not on FATF ‘grey list,’ top Pakistani official tells Arab News

BAKER ATYANI & AAMIR SHAH | Published — Saturday 24 February 2018

Interior minister rejects reports of Pakistan’s inclusion on FATF watch list
ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani official told Arab News that Pakistan is not placed on ‘grey list’ of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during its meeting in Paris that lasted from Feb. 21-23.

“We will be placed on the grey list in June,” the official said who was representing Pakistan in the meeting in Paris.

He said that Pakistan’s foreign policy has been successful in heading off the motion co-sponsored by the US that was seeking to place Islamabad on the so-called grey list immediately.

The government official also clarified, “there is no chance of placing Pakistan on the blacklist even after June.” He said that Pakistan will be placed on the grey list only if a joint action plan with the FATF is not reached in June or Pakistan fails to cooperate with the task force.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in July 1989 by a Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Paris. Its objectives are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF currently comprises 35 members and two regional organizations, representing most major financial centers in all parts of the globe along with observer countries, organizations and associate members.

Pakistan was on the FATF watch-list from 2012 to 2015.

A senior Pakistani diplomat based in Europe, who is close to team that represented Pakistan in the recent FATF meetings in Paris, told Arab News that it was Pakistan foreign policy that lead to this success.

The diplomat added that Pakistan will fully cooperate with the FATF and work on an action plan between now and June. “We are sure that Pakistan will not be placed in the grey list even in June,” the diplomat asserted.

http://www.arabnews.pk/node/1253101/pakistan
 
Lol looks like I twitched your nerve there...get well soon buddy!!

I can't be any better with news now coming out that it's infact India who is been put on grey list. Lol.

How did that slap felt my boy? Hope no marks are left on India face.
 
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