FATF President Marcus Pleyer refused to comment when asked about the uranium leaks in India. Waseem Abbasi, an investigative journalist and editor for Urdu News questioned the FATF President in a live session about FATF’s remarks on Uranium leaks in India and delay in the Indian Mutual Evaluation Report that was planned for February 2021.
The journalist asked, “If Pakistan is being scrutinized for terror financing, then what is the plan for India to stop nuclear proliferation amid recent uranium leaks in Indian markets?” In response to the question, Marcus Pleyer acknowledged that he was aware of the media reports about the incidents yet refused to comment on the grounds of not assessing the heinous leaks of one of the ingredients of nuclear weapons.
The FATF President diverted to the other question about the progress of the Mutual Evaluation Report (MUR) for India that was pending since February 2021 because of the COVID-19 crises. Marcus Pleyer explained that the schedule for Mutual Evaluations for all countries including India had been postponed because of COVID-19 reasons, yet FATF released the report for Pakistan in February amidst the pandemic and not for India. He appeared to convince that FATF would schedule the start of the mutual evaluation process for India as soon as the COVID-19 situation gets better.