ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, struggling to get out of FATF’s gray list, has directed the anti-corruption watchdog to set up an anti-money laundering and terrorism financing cell to check financial crimes and illegal transfer of resources.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took action as the country struggled to get out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Dawn newspaper reported on Monday.
The move comes after the FATF retained Pakistan on its ”grey list” last month for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.
The global body against money laundering and terror financing also asked Pakistan to work to address its strategically important deficiencies.
Pakistan will continue to remain on the “increased monitoring list”, FATF president Marcus Pleyer said on June 25 after the decision had been taken at the conclusion of the FATF”s virtual plenary. “Increased monitoring list” is also known as the ”grey list”.
A senior official of the anti-graft watchdog told the newspaper that the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML&CFT) cell would coordinate with the FATF Secretariat and stakeholders concerned to curb money laundering and terror financing.
The report said that the main responsibility to investigate terror financing cases will still lie with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
According to a NAB official, being a member of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), it was mandatory for the bureau to set up the cell to weed out corruption and make Pakistan corruption-free by adopting the ‘Accountability for All’ policy.
