The Ministry of Finance has approved 10-year imprisonment and a Rs. 50 million penalty for people involved in money laundering.

The ministry has got the approval for increasing the imprisonment from three years to ten years. Moreover, it has increased the penalty from Rs.5 million to Rs. 50 million for individuals, companies and their directors who have been involved in money laundering.

These amendments have come about under the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Action Plan. Moreover, the said plan lays out stricter policies on money laundering.

Under the amendments, assets of the money launderers will be confiscated for six months instead of 90 days, as was the case earlier.

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It needs to be mentioned here that the amendments are going to be a part of the mini-budget scheduled to be presented today.

The above-noted amendments came into being after several consultation meetings with the FATF. The new policy is an effort to get off the FATF’s grey list.

The FATF delegation had visited Pakistan in October. In a two-week visit, the delegation had assessed Pakistan’s efforts regarding anti-money laundering and countering the terrorist financing regulations.

The country is trying to get off the said list, on which it got placed last June. The Paris-based watchdog put Pakistan on its grey list for the deficiencies in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering of Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations.

Via: Express