At No. 34 on FATF list, India ranks alongside neighbours on combating illicit money

The biggest weakness from the point of view of FATF about Pakistan is its commitment to renew its Anti-Terrorism Amendment Ordinance.

The recent report of the global anti-money laundering body shows India is the one member of the 34-nation group ringed by the largest number of countries with a patchy record, surrounding it.
The report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is meant to show progress in combating money laundering in the world. Action against this crime is significant as most of the other trans-national crimes including terrorism uses this as a conduit.

The Reserve Bank of India has placed the update of the report on its website. In the Indian neighbourhood, the countries where progress in combating money laundering and financial terrorism has been scratchy include Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Two other countries which were under FATF surveillance, Nepal and Bangladesh have emerged from there as per the report.

On Pakistan and Afghanistan the report notes these are jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering and combating of financial terrorism deficiencies that have not made sufficient progress in addressing those or have not committed to an action plan developed with the FATF. It goes on to say “the FATF calls on its members to consider the risks arising from the deficiencies associated with each (such) jurisdiction”.

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The Indian customs and other border patrolling agencies have found that the largest source from where fake Indian currency notes are pushed into the country is Pakistan.

Beyond Pakistan the largest percentage of the global production of opium takes place in Afghanistan, and the resultant traffic tends to land up on the Indian border.

On Iran the latest report says it is a “jurisdiction subject to a FATF call on its members and other jurisdictions to apply counter measures to protect the international financial system from the ongoing risks..emanating from the jurisdictions”.

In other words, the FATF is saying that independent of the sanction issues Iran has been pushing in terror financing into the global banking chain.

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The extension of the FATF sanction over such a large swathe of India’s neighbours mean this is a lethal cocktail for the Indian security agencies.

Fortunately the improvements made in Nepal and Bangladesh has taken some of the pressure of them.
The biggest weakness from the point of view of FATF about Pakistan is its commitment to renew its Anti-Terrorism Amendment Ordinance.

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