Treasury Department Releases Additional Afghan Assets
(New order adds to $120 million unfrozen earlier, it says) (310)
The Treasury Department has announced that it has unblocked over $25
million in Afghan assets.
In a February 8 news release, the department said that this action
will give the new Afghan Interim Authority access to assets of four
Afghan government-owned banking entities.
In January the department unfroze $118 million in assets of the Afghan
Central Bank.
Following is the text of Treasury's news release:
(begin text)
TREASURY NEWS
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
February 8, 2002
TREASURY SIGNS LICENSE UNBLOCKING ADDITIONAL FROZEN AFGHAN ASSETS
Today the Treasury Department authorized the unblocking of another
$25.5 million in Afghan government-owned commercial bank assets. These
assets were frozen by the Department of Treasury under a 1999
Presidential Executive Order issued to prevent their use by the
Taliban authorities. The authorization, signed today by Treasury's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, will allow the new Afghan Interim
Authority (AIA) to access assets of Afghan Export Promotion Bank, Bank
Millie, and subsidiaries of Bank Millie, Afghan House and Afghan
Trading.
Today's authorization follows action taken by the Sanctions Committee
of the United Nations Security Council on January 24th, which removed
these four banks from its list of blocked entities. These actions
follow the issuance of a January 24th license by the Office of Foreign
Assets Control, which unblocked approximately $193 million in gold and
$25 million in other assets of the Afghan Central Bank held at the
Federal Reserve of New York.
"We are committed to helping the Afghan people during this critical
period of rebuilding," said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. "We are
optimistic that the funds unblocked today will play an integral role
in this new chapter of Afghan history."
(end text)
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