Moments after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said a decision to remove Pakistan from its ‘grey list’ will be taken after an onsite visit, while lauding the efforts of the government for largely complying with the 2021 action plan, former prime minister Imran Khan said the global terror financing watchdog had repeatedly praised the work and the political will that his regime had demonstrated.
Taking to Twitter, Khan, who was ousted from power earlier this year, said his government had not only averted blacklisting but also completed 32 of the 34 action items, adding it submitted a compliance report on the remaining two items in April based on which FATF now declared Pakistan's Action Plan as completed.
“I constituted a FATF Coordination Committee headed by key minister Hammad Azhar. The committee had representation from all govt departments and security agencies relevant to our FATF action plan. The officers worked day and night in the first instance to avoid blacklisting.”
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“I am confident that the prerequisite onsite visit of the FATF team to confirm completed work on our action plan will pass successfully too. Hammad Azhar, members of his FATF coord committee and officers who worked on this task performed exceptionally well. The whole country is proud of you,” the former Pakistan Prime Minister said in another tweet.
{{/usCountry}}“I am confident that the prerequisite onsite visit of the FATF team to confirm completed work on our action plan will pass successfully too. Hammad Azhar, members of his FATF coord committee and officers who worked on this task performed exceptionally well. The whole country is proud of you,” the former Pakistan Prime Minister said in another tweet.
{{/usCountry}}The FATF said Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list immediately and a decision on the same will be taken after an onsite visit. “Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list today. It will be removed if the onsite visit finds its actions are sustainable,” said FATF president Marcus Pleyer.
Pleyer added that the onsite inspection would be done before October, and a formal announcement on Pakistan's removal would follow.