India out to harm Pakistan at FATF: Qureshi

Finance ministry warns against speculations on action plan

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday India was making attempts to misuse the forum of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for political purposes and doing continuous propaganda against Pakistan.

In a statement, Qureshi said Pakistan had fulfilled 26 out of 27 recommendations of the FATF Action Plan, therefore, there was no justification for the country to remain in the grey list. “Pakistan has fulfilled maximum technical requirements of FATF,” he said.

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The statement comes as the five-day virtual meeting of the FATF began on June 21 in Paris. The global financial watchdog will make public its findings on June 25. Qureshi said that Pakistan took concrete steps to curb money-laundering and terrorist financing in the national interest.

He pointed out that Pakistan “inherited” the problem of FATF grey-listing from the previous government. “However, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has done its best to get Pakistan out of the grey list,” he added.

Finance ministry statement

In a separate statement on Wednesday, meanwhile, the finance ministry warned against speculation regarding the FATF Action Plan, saying that any such attempts could harm global cooperation.

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The ministry said that Pakistan had assured the FATF at the highest level of implementing the Action Plan. It added that France was Pakistan's active partner in implementing the plan by providing guidance and technical assistance to the country.

The statement said that Pakistan had implemented the FATF Action Plan “effectively and expeditiously” in the last two years, adding that Pakistan's performance had been praised by the international community. It added that the FATF decision about Pakistan would be announced on June 25.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)