Pakistan fares badly in terror financing report

Pak faces high risks of money laundering and terror financing, the report says. File pic

Islamabad: Chances are high that Pakistan will be retained on the 'grey list' during the FATF's crucial plenary meetings this month as the country has complied with just one the 40 recommendations set by the global anti-money laundering watchdog at the time of the country's inclusion in the list, according to a report by the Asia Pacific Group (APG). The APG released its much-awaited 228-page 'Mutual Evaluation Report' on Saturday, days ahead of the key Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) plenary meeting which will give its decision on Pakistan's 'grey list' status.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the Paris-based watchdog in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea.

The cut-off date for Pakistan to show improvement to APG was October 2018 and the Pakistani authorities insisted that they made a lot of progress during the past year. According to the report, out of FATF's 40 recommendations on curbing money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, Pakistan was fully compliant only on one. It was largely compliant on nine, partially compliant on 26 and non-compliant on four recommendations, The Express Tribune reported.

Pakistan faces high risks of money laundering and terror financing and it needs to improve the understanding of these risks that are also emanating from various terrorist groups operating in the country, the report said. "After the APG report, chances are high that Pakistan would be retained on the grey list during the FATF plenary meetings from October 13 to 18 in Paris," according to the APG report.

LHC issues notice to Punjab govt on Saeed's petition

A Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the Punjab government and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to file a reply by October 28 on the petition of Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed challenging his arrest in a terrorism financing case.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever