No justification to keep Pakistan on FATF grey list, says Qureshi

ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi yesterday said India was misusing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) platform.

The five-day virtual meeting of the FATF began on June 21 in Par­is, France and will public its find­ings on June 25. FM Qureshi said In­dia was making efforts to misuse the forum of FATF for political purposes and doing continuous propaganda against Pakistan. “India was misus­ing the Financial Action Task Force platform. Pakistan has taken con­crete steps to curb money-launder­ing and terrorist financing in nation­al interest. Pakistan inherited the problem of FATF Grey-listing from the previous government,” he said.

Pakistan, he said, had fulfilled 26 out of 27 action items of the FATF, there was no justification to keep the country in the grey list, he added in a message. “Pakistan has fulfilled maximum technical requirements regarding FATF. The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan did its best to get Pakistan out of the Grey list,” he said.

The FM said the world was ac­knowledging Pakistan’s efforts in implementation of the FATF Action Plan. “The situation at present de­mands from the international bod­ies such as the United Nation to look into misuse of the FATF platform and take India into account for money laundering and terror financing be­sides manipulating the FATF against Pakistan,” he contended.

He said the steps taken by Paki­stan included promulgation of strict laws against money laundering, and freezing the assets and filing of cases against banned organizations.

Resultantly, he said, the Asia Pa­cific Group on Money Laundering improved Pakistan’s rating against money laundering and terror financ­ing. Qureshi said Pakistan European Union Joint Commission welcomed Pakistan’s progress in implementa­tion of FATF points.

“The FATF is being employed by some of its member countries as a political coercion tool against Paki­stan. Despite solid evidence of mon­ey laundering and terrorist funding being rampant in countries like In­dia and Afghanistan, they are being spared due to political reasons,” he said. The experts believe that due to geopolitical interests of FATF mem­ber countries, he said, the platform is ignoring India’s money laundering activities including its expansive ille­gal money laundering network in the form of “hawala (illegal transfer).”

Several Indian companies have been providing material support to ISIS, as per the UK-based Conflict Ar­mament Research, he said.

The FM said according to the Unit­ed State government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Indian state-owned banks were in­volved in money laundering and fi­nancing acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry rejected “misleading and baseless” reports about French position on Pa­kistan’s engagement with FATF.

“It is clarified that France, like many other jurisdictions, has been an active partner of Pakistan during the imple­mentation of its ICRG (International Country Risk Guide) Action Plan and it has also provided technical sup­port and guidance to Pakistan,” the ministry said in a statement.