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US Asks African Nations to Help Against Laden's Money Laundering
The United States has asked eastern and southern African countries to offer help in an effort to find out whether some 20 companies claiming to have links with Osama bin Laden were operating in these countries, Tanzania's official Daily News reported on Wednesday.
A senior official from the secretariat of the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) was quoted as saying that a list of the companies was received from the U.S. embassy early this month.
The official, who was not identified, did not name the companies but hinted that some of them have been registered in the region as non-governmental organizations, charitable agencies and special funds.
He said the ESAAMLG secretariat was asked to throw the drag net regionally to freezing bank accounts if it was established that such organizations exist.
He added that commercial, reserve banks and financial institutions throughout the region have been furnished with the list of suspected companies.
ESAAMLG member countries include Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Seychelles and Tanzania.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the financial battle led by the U.S. has been a major part of the campaign against exiled Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect, and his al-Qaida network.
Galvanized by the terrorist threat, international bodies have moved more swiftly than usual. The UN Security Council, for example, quickly and unanimously adopted last month a U.S.-sponsored resolution requiring all 189 UN member nations to deny money, support and sanctuary to terrorists.
Since the attacks, 81 countries have joined the effort by issuing blocking orders against assets of the designated people and groups, according to U.S. Treasury officials.
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