- It was the first major initiative in the prevention of money laundering held in December 1988.
- This convention laid down the groundwork for efforts to combat money laundering by obliging the member states to criminalize the laundering of money from drug trafficking.
- It promotes international cooperation in investigations and makes extradition between member states applicable to money laundering.
- The convention also establishes the principle that domestic bank secrecy provisions should not interfere with international criminal investigations.
- The FATF is an inter-governmental body established at the G7 summit at Paris in 1989 with the objective to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
- The FATF has developed a series of Recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field.
- The FATF undertakes peer reviews of each member on an ongoing basis to assess the implementation of its recommendations and provides a detailed analysis of each country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system.
- FATF worked on Pak.
- The FATF has been really successful in putting Pakistan on a tight leash. After the FATF put restrictions, Pakistan was forced to take a number of steps including putting the main terrorist leaders behind bars. Maybe it was a cosmetic measure, but they were forced to undertake it because they would have been in a huge financial problem otherwise
FATF Black List & Grey List
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist”. Pakistan was placed on the ‘grey’ list in June 2018 and given a timeline to implement 27 action points.
Black List: Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
- The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) is a FATF style regional inter-governmental (international) body, the members of which are committed to implement international standards against money laundering (AML), the financing of terrorism (CTF) and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- Jurisdictions that join the APG, either as members or as observers, commit to the Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
- India attended the virtual 32nd special Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) plenary meeting, under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force.
- The EAG is a regional body comprising nine countries: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
- Established in 2004, it is an associate member of the FATF.
- The Agreement on the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism was signed in Moscow in June 2011, granting the EAG the status of a regional intergovernmental organization.
- The main tasks of the EAG:
- Assisting member-states in implementing the 40 FATF anti-money laundering Recommendations and the 9 Special FATF Recommendations on combating terrorist financing (FATF 40+9 Recommendations).
- Developing and conducting joint activities aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Implementing a program of mutual evaluations of member-states based on the FATF 40+9 Recommendations, including assessment of the effectiveness of legislative and other measures adopted in the sphere of AML/CFT [Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism]
- Coordinating international cooperation and technical assistance programs with specialized international organizations, bodies, and interested states.
- Analyzing money laundering and terrorist financing trends (typologies) and exchanging best practices of combating such crimes taking into account regional specifics.
- The International Criminal Police Organization (“Interpol”) is an international organization that promotes mutual assistance among criminal police authorities around the world.
- Through its expanded membership and vast resources, Interpol has increased its activities to effectively combat the crime of money laundering.
- Interpol’s thirteen-member executive committee, to which India is a member, decided to undertake a special study dedicated to money laundering in Asia.
- The study also included a detailed look at commercial and trade activities that may be closely linked with money laundering.
