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By South Asia Monitor/IBNS | @justearthnews | 13 Apr 2021
The United Kingdom government has put Pakistan on the list of 21 countries that are considered high-risk countries for money laundering and terror financing. The country still remains on the grey list of the global terror watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Monday expressed reservations on the inclusion, calling the move “devoid of facts”.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhary, the spokesperson of the Pakistan Foreign Office, suggested the UK review its regulations in light of facts on the ground and "avoid politically motivated and misplaced measures.” He also added Pakistan has a “robust regime in place” against money laundering and terror financing.
“Pakistan has taken unprecedented measures through a series of legislative, institutional, and administrative actions in the domain of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism," he was quoted as saying by Dawn.
These actions, he said, have also been reported to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the European Union (EU). The efforts were widely acknowledged by the international community, he added.
Pakistan is near completion of the FATF action plan through 24 out of 27 Action Items, he said.
Earlier in February, the FATF had observed that while Islamabad had made “significant progress”, however, there remained some “serious deficiencies” in mechanisms to plug terrorism financing.