MoU on combating money laundering will be signed by Pakistan and South Africa.
The cabinet has given its approval to the agreement’s summary for preventing funding for terrorism and exchanging information.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made the decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Africa in order to stop money laundering and allow information sharing between the two nations regarding financing for terrorism.
Pakistan’s decision to sign the agreement, coming off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) infamous “grey list,” is a part of its ongoing efforts to improve the efficacy of its system for combating money laundering and financing terrorism.
According to sources, the federal cabinet has also given the go-ahead for the signing of the deal with South Africa after it was circulated for approval.
a team from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in South Africa and the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) in Pakistan to discuss the creation of a route for the effective exchange of financial intelligence.
The two nations will share financial intelligence regarding allegations of money laundering and financing terrorism under the terms of the memorandum of understanding.
The draught of the agreement has also received approval from the ministry of law and justice, and the foreign ministry has also granted its no-objection certificate (NOC), according to sources.
After four years, Pakistan was taken off the list of nations requiring “enhanced surveillance” by the international money laundering and financing watchdog in October.
Pakistan had been included on the FATF’s “grey list” since 2018 as a result of “deficiencies relating to strategic counter-terrorist financing.”
Pakistan was remained on the list until a visit to the nation was made to assess progress, the FATF had stated at its meeting in June.
Later, a FATF technical team visited Pakistan in late August. Pakistan’s foreign ministry deemed the visit “successful” and stated that it anticipated a “logical conclusion” at the subsequent evaluation meeting in October, which is when it was finally removed from the list.
FATF has handed Pakistan a 27-point action agenda, which was later increased to 34 items, pertaining to money laundering, terrorist funding, and action against armed organisations and people after placing the nation on the grey list in 2018.
