‘Involvement in money-laundering’: Rehman Malik writes to FATF to put India on grey list

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Senator Abdul Rehman Malik has written a letter to President Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Dr Marcus Pleyer, pleading him to place India on the grey list of FATF for involvement in money laundering through 44 banks, mentioned in the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) by United States (US) banks.

In his letter on Monday, Rehman Malik has referred to his earlier letters, dated 14th of February, 2019, and 12th of March, 2019, wherein he had pleaded for action against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for protecting international fugitives, involved in biggest ever credit fraud and money laundering.

In his earlier letters, he has also requested for removingal of Pakistan’s name from the FATF’s grey list. Rehman Malik writes that the world has noticed the vast variation between the given mandate and the assumed one by FATF and penal actions against various countries including Pakistan, referring to the earlier response of FATF as “The Financial Action Task Force is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF is therefore a ‘policy–making body’ created in 1989 that works to generate the necessary political will to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms in these area.”

He writes, “The above mandate empowers the FATF to undertake its role as the ‘policy making’ but on the contrary, FATF under your leadership exceeded the official mandate by placing Pakistan on grey list and kept the sword of penal action hanging on the head of Pakistan, although Pakistan has complied with all the requirements of the FATF by adequately bringing amendments in the existing laws and by promulgation of some new legislations.” He writes, “Frankly speaking FATF acted like Interpol by even overstepping the authority of Interpol as money laundering and terrorism come under the charter of Interpol.

Unfortunately, we did not witness the presence of Interpol and the member states of Interpol have the right to demand as to how the FATF has overstepped its official mandate to intrude in the jurisdiction of the Interpol.”

Rehman Malik writes to FATF president, “I, as elected representatives of Pakistan as Senator and the Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Interior along with my countrymen would like to express that Pakistanis feel that we are being discriminated for placing Pakistan on the grey list of FATF, whereas Indian terrorist financing and money laundering are being consistently and deliberately ignored, while both the criminal activities on the part of India have been identified and reported by the concerned international forums even most recently.”

He adds, “I would also like to draw your kind attention to rapid increase of ISIS/Daesh in India as UN report on terrorism has warned that there are ‘significant numbers’ of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka, noting that al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) terror group is planning attacks in the region.” He mentions that the UN report states, “One Member State reported that the ISIL Indian affiliate (Hind Wilayah), which was announced on 10 May 2019, has between 180 and 200 members. According to the report, there are significant numbers of ISIL operatives in Kerala and Karnataka states.”

He highlights that the report also warns that al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent is planning attacks in the region and the two terrorist groups are using COVID-19 pandemic as a platform to propagate their ideology and asking innocent Muslims to be the carrier of coronavirus and spread it amongst people.

For “Monitoring Team’s Twenty-sixth report”. “Actually, India has a covert plan to continue proxy wars through the nexus of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) & ISIS/Daesh in the whole region particularly in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China,” he added.

He writes, “The American magazine ‘Foreign Policy’ in its article “Indians and Central Asians Are the New Face of the Islamic State” on October 8, 2020, has confirmed the rapid increase of Daesh in India.” “In particular, the Indian and Central Asian linkages that the group fostered are already having repercussions beyond the region,” the Foreign Policy Magazine reported.

He stated that the Foreign Policy Magazine actually had validated his point of view which he had disclosed in my books i.e. “Daesh- ISIS, Rising Monster Worldwide”, “Modi’s War Doctrine; Indian Anti-Pakistan Syndrome” and “Bleeding Kashmir”.

Rehman Malik in his letter writes, “India has been turned into a hub of Daesh operators, working with RSS and financed by RAW through its linkage with RSS and has put the whole of South Asia into danger. Most recently 44 Indian banks had been flagged in connection with transactions by Indian entities and individuals in a set of SARs filed by the US banks with the watchdog agency, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

He said the Indian media had covered the involvement of India in terror financing and money laundering and despite this, regrettably, the FATF is still reluctant to take any action against India.” Pakistan was put on the grey list for only the suspicious transaction, while India was given a free hand despite its involvement in terror financing and money laundering, his letter reads.

He pleas, “I, as a right being a national of Pakistan suffering in the hands of FATF, demand that India being involved in terror financing and money laundering should be investigated forthwith. The evidence against India warrants its placement in the grey list based on the UN report and other international organisations, which is part of the international record.”