Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirms India's commitment to fighting money laundering, terror financing; lauds FATF

Washington, April 22

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reaffirmed India’s political commitment to fighting money laundering and terrorist financing as she appreciated the role of FATF global network in safeguarding the global financial system.

Sitharaman said this as she attended the FATF Ministerial Meeting conducted here alongside the 2022 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to endorse the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force’s strategic priorities for the years 2022-24.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The finance minister on Thursday extended support to the strategic priorities and reiterated India’s commitment to provide necessary resources and support to the FATF in its endeavour as a global alliance against money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the Ministry of Finance said.

The Paris-based FATF has placed Pakistan on its grey list since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

Since then, Pakistan continues to be on the FATF’s list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.

Sitharaman congratulated FATF President Marcus Pleyer for the able guidance and leadership provided through the challenging times of pandemic, it said.