The United Kingdom has placed Pakistan on the list of 21 “dangerous states on the basis of rampant money laundering and terrorism financing”.
The complete list, released by the UK government, includes Albania, Barbados, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ghana, Iran, Jamaica, Mauritius, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe, media reports said.
Pakistan stands at number 15 in this list of high risk states, alongside war-ridden countries. UK’s “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2021” came into force in Britain in March 2021, with the aforementioned list being released following developments post-Brexit.
The UK government, in a new Schedule 3ZA, identifies a “high-risk third country” as “a country which has been identified by the European Commission as a high-risk third country in delegated acts adopted under Article 9.2 of the fourth money laundering directive”.
Last week, the UK’s decision to add a number of countries, including Pakistan, to its “red list” barring any travel to the UK invited criticism globally.
British Member of Parliament (MP) Naz Shah raised objections against the step in a letter to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, asking why Pakistan was red-listed while counties with a higher rate of COVID cases were not.
