Pakistan was placed in the “enhanced expedited follow-up list” by the Asia-Pacific Group for its failure to act credibly against terror financing and money laundering . This is tantamount to being blacklisted, and the APG’s conclusion will have an impact on Pakistan’s prospects at the FATF in October.

Pakistan was found to be non-compliant on 32 parameters out of 40. On 11 effectiveness parameters, Pakistan was found to be “low” on 10.

Pakistan had sent a high level team under the governor of its central bank, to make its case at the Canberra plenary, but given that its actions on the ground did not match its promises it failed to convince the group. In fact, the discussions on Pakistan carried on for over seven hours across two days, indicating that the APG were giving Pakistan a detailed hearing.

Pakistan will find the going tough even in the coming FATF plenary, because the findings of the APG will have an impact.

Technically, sources said, even the FATF does not have a “blacklist”, which is a term for general usage. In FATF, the legal jargon for a blacklist is a “public statement”, while a grey list is called a “compliance document.”

In the APG, the lowest level of action is called a “regular follow-up”. The next level is the “enhanced follow-up” but the highest level watchlist is called the “enhanced expedited follow-up” which is the level Pakistan is on.

