FATF compliance unit set up in FIA

LAHORE: On the instructions of the interior ministry, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has constituted a separate unit to ensure effective and timely compliance of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan to curb terror funding.

According to sources, Babar Bakht Qureshi, an officer from the Police Group, has been made director of the FATF task force in the FIA. It will also include officers from grade 20 to 11, who have been picked from different government departments.

The new FIA unit will have offices in the federal and provincial capitals as well as in important cities like Multan, Faisalabad, Sukkur and Gilgit-Baltistan. Sources said that the unit will take action against terror funding across the country.



The sources also said that all the government institutions are told to cooperate with the unit in sharing information regarding terror funding and curbing this menace. They hope that this step would provide better results in the future.

Pakistan has been on the global money laundering watchdog’s radar since June 2018, when it was placed on a grey list for terrorist financing and money laundering risks after an assessment of the country's financial system and security mechanism.

Pakistan, in recent months, has taken major steps in accordance with the FATF action plan. In addition, the government has also proscribed several militant groups and seized their assets, the sources added.