International Taskforce Meets to Stem Terrorism

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 31, 2002

International Taskforce Meets to Stem Terrorism

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An international taskforce met here Wednesday for three days' talks to block the flow of funds to terrorist organizations and review compliance with eight special recommendations adopted in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Hong Kong's Administrative Secretary Donald Tsang told the opening session of the plenary meeting of the 29-member Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) that the September 11 tragedy "has galvanized a united front on an almost unprecedented global scale to fight terrorism," and, to fight international criminal organizations linked to terrorism, "the most potent weapon is to cut off their lifeline -- their sources of funding."

However, Tsang noted that the fight against money laundering is almost a "mission impossible" when considering the amount of money laundered throughout the world is estimated to run into hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars.

The FATF held an extraordinary plenary meeting in Washington last October and adopted eight recommendations designed to deny terrorists and their supporters access to the international financial systems.

Tsang said much progress has been made in the three months since the Washington meeting. According to U.S. reports, more than 140 countries have issued orders freezing the assets of suspected terrorists and organizations, and the coalition against terrorism has continued to gather support from governments around the world.

Taking Hong Kong as an example, Tsang said a total of some 2.3 billion HK dollars (290 million U.S. dollars) has either been restrained, confiscated or recovered in recent years.

"When our statutory framework is further strengthened, we expect to be able to cut off even more avenues for laundering money," he added.

Tsang stressed that Hong Kong, as a major international financial center and the world's freest economy, must rely on the integrity of its financial systems and its robust and comprehensive anti-money laundering regime.

The SAR government is "continuously sharpening these tools through legislation, law enforcement, monitoring of financial and other institutions and public education," said Tsang.

Hong Kong is moving ahead with legislative proposals to comply with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373, which is designed to prohibit the financing of acts of terrorism,freezing and seizing terrorist assets and preventing people from supporting, orbeing recruited by terrorist groups, according to Tsang.

Delegates to the Hong Kong FATF meeting will assess members' progress in meeting the eight FATF recommendations, which include making financing terrorism a criminal offense, freezing and confiscating terrorist assets, and getting financial institutions to report suspicious transactions.

The FATF would also address the problem of laundering money through Internet financing services, e-money, and review the recommendations to see how well they functioned as an instrument against terrorist financing.

Hong Kong narcotic commissioner Clarie Lo is the incumbent president of the FATF, an independent body based at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development headquartered in Paris.

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