FATF retains Pakistan in 'grey list', asks Islamabad to address concerns 'as quickly as possible'

New Delhi: Indicating the status quo of being on FATF’s ‘grey list’, the global body against money laundering and terror financing on Thursday said Pakistan will continue to remain on the increased monitoring list as there are “serious deficiencies” in checking terror financing and the country lacks an effective system to deal with it. After its meeting, Marcus Pleyer, president of Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said the deadline given to Pakistan has already expired and asked Islamabad to address their concerns “as quickly as possible”. “To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items. As all action plan deadlines have expired,” Pleyer said in Paris at the end of its plenary session. There is a serious deficiency on the part of Pakistan in checking terror financing and the country is yet to demonstrate taking action against the UN-designated terrorists and their associates, he said. He said Pakistan courts must give effective, decisive and proportionate punishment to those involved in terrorism, a statement which comes close on the heels of Pakistan Supreme Court acquittal of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, the main accused in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. He said that Pakistan must complete three unfulfilled tasks and once it is completed, the FATF will verify and take a decision on its present status in the next plenary to be held in June.