Pakistan government to present new FATF laws in parliament sans opposition support — PM’s aide

ISLAMABAD: The government will present before the National Assembly on Monday drafts of four new laws on curbing money laundering and terror financing as per instructions by global watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, a top government official said, accusing the opposition of ‘politicizing’ the issue.
The FATF sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
In 2018 the FATF placed Pakistan on its “gray list” of countries with inadequate controls over terror financing, and gave it a 27-step action plan to implement, which includes passing new legislation.
Islamabad now has up to September 30 to submit a compliance report to the FATF or be blacklisted, which would put it in company with Iran and North Korea and see it shunned by international financial institutions.
“We aren’t negotiating with the opposition [for support to pass the bills],” Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan, adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan on parliamentary affairs and the point person on FATF-related legislation, told Arab News.
“We have held over two dozen meetings [with the opposition],” he said. “[Whatever] they promise in the night, [they] renege on it in the morning.”
The government had initially set up a 24-member parliamentary committee headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and comprising opposition members to develop consensus on FATF-related legislation. The committee was dissolved after opposition members boycotted its meeting.
As a result of the deadlock, the 104-member Senate, dominated by opposition political parties, rejected two FATF-related bills on August 25, with the government crying foul and accusing the opposition of “playing politics” on an issue of national interest.
Opposition parties, however, say they are ready to sit with the government to “redraft the bills” but are wary of clauses that could be used to infringe upon civil liberties and human rights.
“The government wants to give sweeping powers to investigation officers through legislation under the guise of the FATF requirement, which is not acceptable to us,” Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk, a lawmaker from the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, told Arab News.
He urged the government to redraft amendments in the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) bills to win the opposition’s support.
An amendment to Section 156-C of the CrPC as introduced by the government will empower the investigation officer to “use techniques including but not limited to undercover operations, intercepting communications, assessing computer system and controlled delivery as provided in the rules for investigation of offenses of money laundering, associated predicate offenses and financing of terrorism under the law in force.”
“This provision in the law clearly means giving permission to the investigation officer to intrude into the privacy of a citizen, and could also lead to political victimization,” Virk said.
Pakistan has long been accused of supporting militant groups for use as proxies to project power in the South Asian region particularly toward its arch-rival India and in Afghanistan. Islamabad vociferously denies such accusations.
But with a minimum of three votes by FATF members needed to avoid the organization’s blacklist, Pakistan has been able to avoid being black listed so far thanks to support from major ally China and other friendly countries including Malaysia and Turkey.
Islamabad and counter-terrorism officials say Pakistan has done much to comply with FATF’s 27-point agenda, which included an unprecedented conviction for terrorism financing of Hafiz Saeed, chief of the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group.
The most crucial aspect of compliance with FATF in Pakistan’s case would be steps to effectively prevent militant groups from openly operating and raising funds.
The FATF has pushed Pakistan to adequately identify, assess and understand risks associated with militants groups present in the country such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Jamat-ud-Dawa and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Pakistan government to present new FATF laws in parliament sans opposition support — PM’s aide