[Clips] Irish have little defence against terror fundraisers

[R. A. Hettinga]

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  Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 00:20:16 -0500
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  From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  Subject: [Clips] Irish have little defence against terror fundraisers
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<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.

  --
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  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at 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,
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  experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at 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'