FATF President Xiangmin Liu [wrongly stated because Marcus Pleyer of Germany assumed the position of President of the FATF on 1 July 2020, who succeeded Xiangmin Liu of the People’s Republic of China] said in response to a question from an Indian journalist that there was no proposal to “blacklist” Pakistan, so blacklisting Pakistan was not on the agenda. Giving a detailed briefing on the decisions of the task force on Pakistan, the President said that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its decision regarding Pakistan said that Pakistan has made laws on 22 out of 27 items and they are being implemented now. So, it is hoped that it will be added to the “white list” by February 2021.
The FATF President while answering tough questions from Indian journalist Geeta Mohan of India Today, Sanjay Suri, and Siddharth, also said that ‘FATF welcomes Pakistan’s efforts to meet the standards set by the FATF. Pakistan has been instructed to expedite the completion of its full action plan by February 2021 to be included in the white list. The President further said that Pakistan is working hard on this.
In its statement on Pakistan, they have identified six points that Pakistan needs to address, including upgrading its existing laws and procedures on combating money laundering and terrorist financing to bring them in line with international standards. Turkey made a sincere effort to get Pakistan off the blacklist in this meeting. It told that it should go to Pakistan and review all the steps and said that Pakistan has completed all the conditions of FATF; so, it should be removed from the grey list. Pakistan needs 12 votes to be blacklisted and this is a very difficult task for the FATF. Therefore, in February 2021, Pakistan will be whitelisted in any case.