Nearly $200 million in terrorist-related assets have been seized or frozen since September 2001, said the US Treasury Department. Pipelines of financing that once funneled millions of dollars to terrorists have been dismantled and 315 individuals and organizations have been designated as terrorists or as part of terrorist support networks.
Some 173 nations have implemented orders to freeze terrorist assets, more than 100 countries have introduced new legislation to fight terrorist financing and 84 countries have established Financial Intelligence Units to share information, revealed the Treasury Department in a recently published report.
Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, some 1,439 accounts, containing more than $136.7 million in assets have been frozen worldwide. More than $60 million in additional terrorist related assets were seized by authorities globally.
Lat month, US Treasury Secretary John Snow announced the designation of several charities funding Hamas and several members of Hamas' senior leadership. In the weeks since, the EU reached consensus to designate the political wing of Hamas. Several other jurisdictions, including the Palestinian Authority and the UK, have also taken action to freeze assets of Hamas related charities.
In support of previous action by the EU, the US designated the Al-Aqsa International Foundation, a major source of funding to Hamas in April of 2003, helping to shut down the German based charity. Three major US-based charities providing finding to terrorists, the Global Relief Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation and Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development were designated and shut down in December of 2001.
An Executive Order issued in 2001 gave the US Secretaries of State and Treasury the authority to designate individuals and organizations as terrorists and terrorist supporters, freezing their US assets and prohibiting financial transactions with US persons. International cooperation has broadened the net of designations to encompass not just the US, but jurisdictions globally. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
