Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting here on Tuesday with the officials of FBR, Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) and Finance Division on the matters related to AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism) regime.
The Finance minister was briefed on the reforms introduced so far in various laws to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. The Finance minister remarked that the government has taken a number of initiatives in this regard to promote transparency and good governance.
The Companies Ordinance, 2016, promulgated recently, empowers the SECP to investigate and also conduct joint investigation against fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. The Benami Law, recently passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan, aims to curb the use of benami transactions for criminal acts and black money. Similarly, the government has also undertaken measures for valuation of property and related tax matters.
Pakistan has also become a signatory to the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Furthermore, he said that new measures, such as the Companies’ Global Register of Beneficial Ownership, would curb corruption and help address challenges related to off-shore investments, and ensure transparency in governance.
The minister emphasized that the Zarb-e-Azb operation against terrorists coupled with the reforms and measures undertaken including legislations have resulted in effective curbing of the menace of terrorism and terrorist financing.
He urged the officials to ensure effective and expeditious implementation of these laws and measures to achieve the desired outcomes. He further directed that continued efforts should be made for further strengthening the regime and improvements should be suggested to plug any possible loopholes related to money laundering and terror financing.
