Paris (Agencies): The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Wednesday officially placed Pakistan on its grey list despite Pakistan's diplomatic efforts to avert the decision.
The announcement was made late on Wednesday night.
The financial watchdog, in its meeting in Paris, argued that Pakistan had failed to curb terror financing on its soil.
Pakistani delegation led by caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar apprised the meeting of steps taken by Pakistan to stem money laundering and terror financing, and put up a robust case on not placing its name on the "grey list".
The decision to place Pakistan on the global money-laundering watchdog’s grey list was made during a FATF plenary meeting in February this year.
Amid increasing global pressure to move decisively against proscribed organisations, Pakistan reviewed its new draft action plan for submission to global bodies working on curbing money laundering and terror financing. The action plan was reviewed just two days before the filing of comments to the observations raised by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering.
The APG and the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) recommendations to curb money laundering and terror-financing were first discussed in a federal cabinet meeting. The proposed action plan was then reviewed in a meeting chaired by Dr Akhtar.
Pakistan was also placed on the FATF grey-list list from 2012 to 2015.
FATF is a global body that combats terrorist financing and money laundering.
