Marshall Billingslea, the outgoing president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), announced on Friday at a press briefing held at the end of the FATF meeting in Orlando, Florida, that there was “absolutely a possibility” that Pakistan could be blacklisted following the International Financial board Meet to be held in Paris in October 2019.
The FATF negotiated with Pakistan an action plan that would bring forth significant changes in the coming year in areas of curbing money laundering and terror financing.
According to the Summer plenary scheduled from June 16-21, Pakistan has not taken the required steps of action as agreed upon with FATF.
Further, Marshall Billingslea said, “Pakistan was cautioned in February at the plenary that they had missed almost all of their January milestones. And they were urged to not fail to meet the milestones in May. Unfortunately, Pakistan has yet again missed its May milestones…Now the action plan itself is set to complete in September. So this was not the plenary where we would discuss a blacklisting issue. This was the plenary where we examine how far and how far behind Pakistan is on its action plan … and I must say they are far behind.”
Also read: Antigua all set to revoke Mehul Choksi’s citizenship; may soon get extradited to India
Only Iran and North Korea are members of the FATF blacklist. If Pakistan is asked to join the two countries on the list, it could bring with it severe repercussions on the country. It would include denying it loans and development assistance, and could result in a downgraded credit rating.
Yet, countries like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey, China, Gulf Cooperation Council and China were among those at the Orlando meet who asked for Pakistan to be given more time to meet with the action plan.
Pakistan has already been on the ‘grey list’ with countries who have failed to take required steps towards curbing money laundering and terror financing.
Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa said in a statement; “We are doing our best, utilising all available sources to wipe out the enemies of peace and prosperity but it is fact that the peace and stability in South Asia was dependent on the resolution of conflicts and disputes in the region.”
For viral videos and Latest trends subscribe to NewsMobile YouTube Channel and Follow us on Instagram