Islamabad, Feb. 23 (TNS): Despite multiple reports in international media to the contrary, Pakistan has not been featured among those countries found to have strategic deficiencies with respect to countering money laundering and combating financing for terrorism (AML/CFT) by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog on money laundering and terror financing.
The countries in the list issued by the FATF on February 23 include Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vanuatu and Yemen.
Pakistan’s name is also absent from the public statement issued by the regulator.
Similarly, Pakistan is not mentioned in the statement of outcomes of the plenary meeting, even though the statements mentions discussions on progress made by countries like Spain, Brazil, Norway and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is not yet clear if more announcements will be forthcoming. Dawn.com will keep its readers updated as more information emerges.
Earlier in the day, there had been multiple reports in Indian and international media that a decision had been made to include Pakistan in the FATF’s grey list. Similar claims were also reported by an international news agency. Reuters had cited an unnamed, “non-Indian diplomatic source” from one of the FATF countries that the group had decided Pakistan would be put back on the watchlist.
The reports had triggered a sharp drop in the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index, which plummeted as much as 615 points in intra-day trading immediately after activities resumed following a mid-day break. The rout was somewhat contained, however, with the market closing with more modest losses of 261 points (0.6pc) as investors weighed the possible implications of the move.
