As published on regulationasia.com, Tuesday 18 August, 2020.
Pakistan has taken another step towards its removal from the FATF grey list with the passage of five new bills in the National Assembly.
Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020, another step towards its removal from the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) grey list.
The bill proposes prohibiting the provision of loans or financial assistance to those associated with banned organisations and restricting all banks and financial institutions from issuing credit cards to individuals on the proscribed persons list.
It further states that arms licences already issued to such individuals would be revoked and their weapons confiscated. Under the bill, no new licences will be issued to such persons and they will be penalised for carrying weapons.
The bill states that a person is committing an offence if they facilitate the travel of an individual for the purpose of perpetrating, participating in, assisting or preparing for a terrorist act or for providing or receiving training for terrorist activities.
It empowers the state to freeze the accounts and travel documents of those found to be involved in terrorist activities.
Four other FATF-related bills were also passed:
Last month, Pakistan’s Senate also passed two other FATF-related bills, concerning penalties for violating the anti-terrorism law and the ability to implement UN Security Council resolutions.