Pakistan lawmakers head to Beijing eyeing FATF reprieve

The team is led by economic affairs minister Hamad Azhar and contains officials from National Counter Terrorism Authority, foreign ministry, State Bank of Pakistan, Customs, interior ministry and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).

A Pakistani delegation is in Beijing for crucial three-day talks with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Working Group that would start its meeting on January 21, hoping to get a reprieve from the global money laundering watchdog’s grey list.

The logo of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is seen during a news conference after a plenary session at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, France. (REUTERS)

The team is led by economic affairs minister Hamad Azhar and contains officials from National Counter Terrorism Authority, foreign ministry, State Bank of Pakistan, Customs, interior ministry and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU). The News daily reported on Monday that there is a possibility that voting might be conducted to consider Pakistan’s exit from the grey list. This was not confirmed by Pakistani officials.

The report said that “If Pakistan does not come out of the ‘grey list’, it is expected to win a ‘largely-compliant’ rating from the FATF regarding implementation of 27 recommendations given in its Action Plan that can help it acquire more time from the watchdog for full compliance.”