BackFATF gives Pakistan 4-month reprieve to meet deadline to stop financing terror groups
FATF warns it would not be relaxing its efforts to combat the financing of terrorist organizationsOther nations on FATF’s watch also get a four-month reprieve for meeting a deadline to stop financing terrorist groups
PremiumNEW DELHI : The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Tuesday said it was giving countries on its watch including Pakistan a four-month reprieve for meeting a deadline set by it to stop financing terrorist group given the temporary suspension of its activities due to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
But the intergovernmental body, that sets policies and standards to combat financial crime including money laundering and terrorist financing, warned that it would not be relaxing its efforts to combat the financing of terrorist organizations or any of its other activities.
It said in a statement posted on its website that it would actively monitor the impact of the covid-19 crisis on measures to counter illicit financing.
In the statement, the FATF said it had “decided on a general pause in the review process for the list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action and jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring, by granting jurisdictions an additional four months for deadlines."
“Thus, the FATF is not reviewing them in June," the statement said, adding the organisation’s plenary had agreed to “temporarily postpone all remaining FATF mutual evaluations and follow-up deadlines."
Pakistan was not mentioned by name but diplomats based in New Delhi said that the statement meant that Pakistan was among the countries that would get more time to implement the deadlines set by the FATF. This comes as the FATF and its members have been not been able to visit countries for a first hand assessment of the implementation of action plans because of travel restrictions imposed countries around the world top stem the spread of the pandemic, one of the diplomats cited above said. Pakistan’s performance was to be assessed at a meeting in Beijing in June but now it is expected to happen later this year.
Pakistan has been on FATF’s “grey list" of “jurisdictions" closely watched and monitored since June 2018 for failing to stop the flow of money to terorirst organizations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) besides the al-Qaeda and Haqqani Network.
At a plenary meeting of the FATF in Paris in February, Pakistan had been warned that it had till June to meet its deadlines for a 27-point action plan. The FATF had also concluded that Islamabad had “largely addressed" only 14 of the 27 points in the action plan. It had then issued a warning to Pakistan that if its action plan is not fully implemented, it would face the possibility of being moved to the list of monitored countries, commonly known as the “black list."
“Despite the decision to temporarily postpone the above-mentioned process deadlines due to the current force majeure situation, the FATF will not let up its efforts to fight money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, and will continue working with all jurisdictions in its global network to ensure an effective implementation of its standards," the FATF statement said.
“The FATF is actively monitoring the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on measures to combat illicit financing. We remain vigilant to the threats posed by criminals and terrorists who may seek to exploit this period to further their criminal objectives," it said.
“This situation has significantly impacted countries’ ability to actively participate in mutual evaluation and related follow-up processes. The FATF Plenary acknowledges these severe challenges that countries face at this difficult time," it added.
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