FATF asks Pakistan to document all gold purchases in country

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has reportedly handed over to Pakistan a new set of recommendations to boost its fight against financial crimes in the country, especially the terror financing, reports Daily Times.

Pakistan is set to submit in the coming days its compliance report to the FATF on the action plan outlined during the last meeting in February. Ahead of the submission of the report, the finance ministry has received a new set of recommendations which requires Pakistan to track all gold purchases throughout the country, a private TV channel reported.

The task force has asked Islamabad to collect data of all gold markets (Sarafa Bazars) in the country and the sale and purchase of gold therein. The country has been asked to ban gold purchases on cash payments and instead allow those only through the debit or credit cards. The recommendations further demanded Pakistan to ensure restriction on supply of gold and jewelry to the banned outfits and terrorist organisations.

Moreover, the global watchdog has urged Pakistan to collect the data of all trusts operating across country as well as their bank accounts on the district level. The demand also includes regulation of thousands of registered trust organisations and establishment of a district-level system to regulate such organisations.

The fresh recommendations from FATF are part of the action plan Pakistan has been asked to comply with in order to warrant its exclusion from the 'grey list'.

Reports said the finance, interior and foreign ministries, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Federal Investigation (FIA), National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) have been working on the FATF action plan. The government has also set up four working groups to ensure the implementation of the action plan.