--- begin forwarded text Delivered-To: clips@philodox.com Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 00:20:16 -0500 To: Philodox Clips List <clips@philodox.com> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com> Subject: [Clips] Irish have little defence against terror fundraisers Reply-To: rah@philodox.com Sender: clips-bounces@philodox.com <http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=184&si=1590619&issue_id=13867&printer=1> Irish Independent Irish have little defence against terror fundraisers Saturday April 1st 2006 Tom Lyons IRELAND has major gaps in its ability to stamp out the financing of domestic and international terrorism. An international body had found that Ireland fails or only partly meets seven out of nine special UN resolutions to fight the financing of terrorism and crime. Monitoring of charities, auctioneers, lawyers, wire transfers and trusts are among the areas which need to be tightened up. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concludes that although Ireland is carrying out a review of the charity sector, it has "not yet implemented measures to ensure accountability and transparency" to prevent terrorists posing as legitimate non-profit organisations. This is in spite of the fact that over three years ago an Islamic charity based in Dublin was accused in a US court of having channelled money to supporters of Osama Bin Laden. And the FATF, which was founded in 1989, finds Ireland has only "limited ability" to freeze funds of terrorists who have yet to be designated as such by the EU. Resolution This is in breach of a UN resolution adopted just two weeks after the September 11 attacks. The FATF also concludes that non-financial businesses or professions (such as real estate agents, casino bosses, diamond dealers or lawyers) are "not adequately monitored for compliance". Its evaluation team found that the lack of anti-money laundering or terrorist financing requirements for trust and company services providers as well as of private gaming clubs operating as casinos was "a matter of concern". It also finds that Ireland is "non-compliant" in terms of another UN resolution governing wire transfers. It finds that the requirement to record and keep the names of people transferring money abroad is "limited and currently only contained in guidance". And there is "no obligation" to verify that the identities of people transferring money is "accurate and meaningful". The report also finds a legal loophole exists that prevents the Terrorist Finance offence being applied to the collection of money to fund groups of less than three terrorists - except when the funds are actually used to carry out a terrorist act. And it states that Ireland has "no powers" to obtain a truthful disclosure upon request from individuals suspected of bringing cash or bearer notes across borders. "No sanctions are available for false declarations" in such cases, it says. The FATF also warns that Ireland has no explicit requirement to watch all unusual, complex, or large transactions with no visible economic purpose. Furthermore, it criticises Ireland's trust laws which make it "difficult to obtain and verify in a timely fashion" the beneficial owners of property or other assets. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' _______________________________________________ Clips mailing list Clips@philodox.com http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'