The Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering asked Pakistan to implement on “appropriate laws, enabling local officials to act upon requests of foreign countries to freeze illegal assets and making terrorist financing and money laundering extraditable offences,” a local media house reported.
The visiting APG team pointed out the flaws in the legal framework adding that this could affect Pakistan’s response to requests of “mutual legal assistance by foreign countries in money laundering cases”.
The team further stressed the need to strengthen this framework by October so that an on-site inspection can be carried out by the regional body.
It also urged the authorities to give predicate offence monitoring powers to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The activities by non-profit organizations, narcotics trafficking and proceeds of crimes were the other areas the APG delegation focused on.
The APG team is visiting Islamabad to assess legal and administrative arrangements for implementing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations for curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.
The team comprises officials from the United States, Turkey, China and the United Kingdom.
The performances of Anti-Narcotics Force, SECP and NAB have been approved by the delegation. However, the skill sets involved in the Financial Monitoring Unit and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) require improvement.