Premature to speculate on FATF decision, says Hammad Azhar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, who led a Pakistani delegation during three-day talks with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Beijing, said on Saturday the government has worked “very hard” to get the country off the watchdog’s grey list.

Taking to Twitter, he said: “It is premature to comment/ speculate on the decision that FATF members shall take in the plenary in Feb.”

“Pak Authorities have worked very hard over the months & I feel we have made significant progress in our AML/CFT efforts. We remain committed to sustaining this momentum.”

The minister expressed the optimism that that attempts by “certain quarters to politicise the FATF proceedings would be rejected.”

We also hope the attempts by certain quarters to politicise the FATF proceedings would be rejected. 2/2

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) January 25, 2020

Separately, sources told ARY News that the FATF has given the government until March 31 to achieve targets set by the watchdog.

A FATF plenary slated for Feb 17 will evaluate implementation on a 27-point action plan, they said.

They added the watchdog’s mutual evaluation meeting will take place in August.

Previously, Islamabad had sent a 650-page review report to the FATF on January 8 in response to 150 questions raised by the watchdog.