The opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) criticized the government led by Imran Khan for failing to remove Pakistan from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) claimed that the FATF decision was the result of “sloppy and obviously done” drafting of the law and lack of duties, Dawn reported.
Criticizing the government for its failure, Senate PPP Parliamentary Leader Sherry Rehman said: “Why didn’t (government officials) do their homework on time? The news from the FATF experts is that the wording of the law is sloppy and obviously done. Why didn’t they look at everything in good time? They were too busy running a constant narrative against the opposition that seems to be their only task. “
The FATF announced on Friday that Pakistan would remain on its gray list for another four months until February 2021 for six of the 27 unmet action plan targets on AML / CFT, Dawn reported.
Rehman mocked the poor governance and ineffectiveness of the current government and reminded them of the fact that the Paris-led organization had removed Pakistan from the gray list when terrorism was a major threat in the region.
“It really isn’t rocket science. It has been done quite fluidly before and could have been done again if only the government (officials) did not look and behave like the governance buffs that they are, ”Rehman added.
The FATF had gray-listed Pakistan in June 2018 due to ‘strategic deficiencies’ in its Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML / CFT) regime following a push from India supported by the USA, UK and some other European countries. Pakistan then committed to a 27-point action plan, but did not meet the deadlines.
The global watchdog had asked the government to implement an action plan by the end of 2019, which was later rolled out due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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