The United States has urged Pakistan to expand Financial Action Task Force (FATF) safeguards to informal sectors of economy amid its concerns over slow progress on implementation of 27-point Financial Action Plan.
The US delegation that is in the town for an on-ground assessment of implementation on the 27-point Action Plan of the FATF met on Wednesday with Federal Minister Hammad Azhar who is also a coordinator on FATF affairs from the civilian side.
During their interaction with private and public sectors, the US authorities were getting first-hand information about the country’s preparedness to deliver on the FATF Action Plan and the actual improvement in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regime.
Azhar has recently been appointed as coordinator of a cabinet body that is overseeing implementation on the FATF Action Plan. This is in addition to the National Executive Committee on AML that is headed by Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
The sources said that the US delegation discussed the loopholes in the financial system and its lack of coverage of various sectors of the economy.
During the meeting with government officials, the US delegation acknowledged the work done by Pakistan during the past 15 months but expressed concerns over slow progress that would result in the missing of many of the agreed action points.
Pakistani officials informed the US delegation that the country did its best despite serious institutional capacity constraints during past 15 months. They urged the US authorities to review the country’s progress instead of judging it on the 27 goals, the sources said.
Pakistan is a member of the APG and its case is being presented before the FATF by the APG. India’s Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) director general and the US Assistant Treasury Secretary Marshall Billingslea co-chair the Joint Group.
Pakistan presented a weak case in the last FATF review meeting, as the country could hardly show progress on one-fourth of the agreed Action Plan, the sources said.
One of the early impressions of the US treasury department officials was that Pakistan was verbally claiming a lot of progress but the country had not demonstrated it in a written report, backed by some concrete evidence, according to the sources.
Islamabad had been given a 27-point Action Plan that the country was supposed to implement till September 2019. In February last year, the FATF decided to place Pakistan on the grey list of countries whose terrorism financing and anti-money laundering laws are described as deficient with effect from June 2018.
