A delegation of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) has asked Pakistan to take measures in order to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, seemingly dissatisfied with the legal framework and institutional arrangements.
The purpose of the mutual evaluation onsite visit was to assess the effectiveness of Pakistan’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime under FATF methodology.
According to reports, APG fears that the set-up installed for scrutinising the activities of non-profit organisations, brokerage houses, exchange companies and donations of corporate entities — registered under the companies act — lacks stability.
Even in areas where the legal framework appeared vigorous, the implementation was not strong enough to trickle down to the entities in question, which became obvious in real estate.
A team of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) responded to APG that brokerage houses were kept in check through real estate retailers, which are generally outside its area of regulation.
The delegation included Ian Collins of the United Kingdom’s Scotland Yard, James Prussing of the United States Department of the Treasury, Ashraf Abdullah of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Maldives, Bobby Wahyu Hernawan of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Gong Jingyan of the Peoples Bank of China and Mustafa Necmeddin Oztop of the Turkish Ministry of Justice.
