11 October 2001
Text: Treasury Says $24 Million in Terrorist Assets Frozen Worldwide
(Release gives early results of move against terrorist assets) (730)
The United States has frozen nearly $4 million in assets belonging to
the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorist network, the Treasury Department
says, and worldwide the total of frozen assets is over $24 million.
In an October 11 press release, the department described some early
results of U.S. and international activities to disrupt financing of
terrorism since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon.
The report reviews agreements reached among the finance ministers of
the Group of Seven (G-7) leading industrial countries: Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.
It also reviews developments in the 29-country Financial Action Task
Force (FATF), a group aiming to curb money laundering. And it says
Treasury officials have met with representatives of Caribbean
countries to seek more cooperation.
Following is the text of the Treasury press release:
(begin text)
October 11, 2001
PROGRESS REPORT ON COMBATING TERRORIST FINANCING
When the President opened the financial front in the battle against
global terrorism, he galvanized all agencies of the federal government
to work together at a greater level of cooperation than ever before.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies are sharing information to
identify and pursue individuals connected to terrorism. The Treasury
and State departments are working together to build an international
coalition to disrupt the financing of terrorism. Results to date:
Since September 11, the United States has frozen nearly $4 million in
assets belonging to the Taliban, Usama bin Laden and the al Qaeda
network, and several million in additional assets are under review.
We've seen unprecedented cooperation from around the world. 102
countries have committed to joining the effort to disrupt terrorist
assets and 62 countries already have put blocking orders in force.
Nations around the world have frozen more than $24 million is assets
since September 11.
Treasury hosted a special meeting of the G7 Finance Ministers last
Saturday. The seven nations pledged cooperation and announced a joint
action plan under which:
-- The G-7 calls on all countries to establish functional Financial
Investigative Units (FIUs) as soon as possible.
-- The G-7 countries will all join the Egmont Group, which promotes
cooperation between national FIUs and turns around information sharing
requests as expeditiously as possible and will facilitate information
sharing agreements between nations.
-- The Egmont Group will meet in Washington later this month to
further their coordination efforts.
At the request of the G-7, the Financial Action Task Force (a group of
29 countries) will hold an extraordinary plenary meeting in
Washington, D.C., later this month. The G-7 called on the FATF to
focus on specific measures to combat terrorist financing, including:
-- Issuing special FATF recommendations and revising the FATF 40
Recommendations to take into account the need to fight terrorist
financing, through methods including increased transparency;
-- Issuing special guidance for financial institutions on practices
associated with the financing of terrorism that warrant further action
on the part of affected institutions;
-- Developing a process to identify jurisdictions that facilitate
terrorist financing, and making recommendations for actions to achieve
cooperation from such countries.
The U.S. Government has communicated with every country about
participation in a global coalition to disrupt terrorist financing.
Top Treasury officials have spoken directly with 29 Finance Ministers
to discuss specific actions. All have been cooperative.
Treasury officials attended the Caricom (a group of Caribbean nations)
meeting today to discuss ongoing cooperation in disrupting the
financial infrastructure of terrorism.
Specific examples of action since September 11 include:
-- The Dutch have blocked two accounts worth $550,000 of assets
associated with bin Laden and the al Qaeda organization.
-- The Bahamas blocked accounts connected to the recent terrorist
attacks.
The U.S. Government will provide technical assistance to cooperating
governments in the full range of efforts to combat terrorists'
financial activities.
U.S. financial institutions have responded to Treasury requests and
volunteered information to identify patterns of terrorist financing.
Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has set up an 800
number so that financial institutions professionals can call when they
see a particularly suspicious transaction. The 800 number receives an
average of 15 calls per day.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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