ISLAMABAD: A team of experts from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the anti-terror finance and anti-money laundering watchdog, has arrived in Pakistan for an onsite visit.
As per the reports, the FATF experts will stay in Pakistan until Friday, September 2. The experts will meet officials and others to verify the measures Pakistan has taken for countering terror finance and stopping money laundering.
The onsite visit is the final step before Pakistan is taken off the gray list of sanctions. The FATF team will submit a report after the visit and a final announcement about Pakistan’s gray list status will be made in October.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body that sets international standards seeking to prevent international financial crimes that aid terrorism. It is a policymaking body that works to generate political will in national jurisdictions for legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
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The FATF was established in July 1989 by a G-7 Summit in Paris, initially to examine and develop measures to combat money laundering. After the 9/11 attacks, the FATF in October 2001 expanded its mandate to incorporate efforts to combat terrorist financing, and in April 2012, it added efforts to counter the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The FATF currently comprises 37 member jurisdictions and two regional organisations (European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council), representing most major financial centres in all parts of the globe.
