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Pakistan has approved the Anti-Money Laundering Bill, which has declared the financing for terrorism-related activities to be criminal offences.
The Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2009 was approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday and has declared “terrorism financing" as a criminal offence
Finance ministry and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials told the committee that Pakistan required laws in line with international standards for tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique, and other senior officials had participated in the meeting. Any employee or firm if found violating the law will have to pay a penalty of Rs.5 million now.
The committee was informed that the amendments were in line with international standards on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The committee had called for the upgrading of the existing anti-money laundering laws before February 2010.
