The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) continues to mount pressure on Pakistan to fulfill the commitments it made to curb terror financing and money laundering risks to the global financial system. The FATF today issued another warning to Pakistan regarding the increase in suspicious transactions in 2018 and 2019.
#NewsAlert – @FATFNews pressure mounts on Pakistan. 8707 suspicious transactions in 2018: FATF. Suspicious transactions up 57% from 2017. FATF recently warned Pakistan to stop terror funding. | @sanjaysuri88 with more details pic.twitter.com/ZvnN5CmndR
— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 4, 2019
As per the data released by FATF News today, 8707 suspicious transactions have been reported in 2018. About 57% higher than that of 2017. About 1,136 STRs were issued in January and February this year alone. This comes on the heels of the warning it had issued on February 22, 2019. It had then condemned the attack on CRPF convoy in unequivocal terms, calling upon Pakistan to curb terror financing to impose restrictions on the actions of terror outfits.
Also read: How the latest FATF financial sanctions will hurt Pakistan
Jaish-e-Muhammad terror outfit claimed the responsibility of the Pulwama attack. Since the attack, the Indian government has doubled down on its efforts to amplify pressure on Pakistan and render it diplomatically isolated on every possible front. The warning issued by FATF can be considered as a result of India’s multi-pronged diplomatic effort. The FATF had expressed its concern and condemned the Pulwama attack, saying such terror attack harm societies and citizens around the world, which is not possible without money and the means to move funds among terrorist supporters.
The next review of Pakistan’s progress will be undertaken by the FATF in June 2019. Pakistan made an ambitious political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to address its strategic counter-terrorism financing-related insufficiencies by implementing an action plan to accomplish the listed objectives in June 2018. Only the successful implementation of the targeted plan and the verification of the objectives attained will determine whether Pakistan will be moved out of the grey list or shifted into the blacklist by September 2019.
