Latest Developments in Tracking the Financial Assests of Terrorists

3:41 P.M. EST

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you very much. President Bush indicated that the first shot in the war against the financing of terrorism occurred back on September 24th. And since then, there has been three additional shots and another one today. A total of, on September 24th, 27 terrorists and terrorist organizations were designated as subject to blocking by financial institutions in the United States. And we got cooperation from other countries to block those assets as well.

In the subsequent three designations, there were another 127 terrorists and those associated with terrorists that were designated.

And today, President Bush announced the fifth shot in this war against the financing of these terrorist acts, and that was to name three Hamas-controlled organizations, one operating in the United States -- the Holy Land Foundation, located primarily in Texas but represented in branches in Illinois, California and New Jersey. Today, those four branches were shut down by the United States and the assets seized.

Two other organizations, banks -- Al Aqsa and Beit al Mal -- are also designated by the executive order according to the president today.

Since the day has transpired and these accounts were -- began to be seized, there's been $1.9 million of funds that have been blocked in the United States, in addition to the branches I indicated in those four states being closed down.

The United States, of course, is just one part of this global effort to stop and disrupt the financing of terrorism. Every country in the world has to participate in this, and many, many are participating.

Today the international effort has begun to pursue the closing of assets. Early today Italy and Canada blocked these assets as well. Ultimately, many more countries will participate in issuing blocking orders against these organizations, as they have in the previous four lists of terrorists that the United States has designated.

There's been quite a bit of cooperation in this effort. We've contacted more than a hundred countries who have pledged cooperation. Over the five lists of names, 139 countries have issued blocking orders, and as additional names are added, those names are added to the orders that countries will block.

And in sum, there's been over $60 million of assets that have been blocked as a result of this activity.

So I would emphasize this is part of the ongoing effort of the United States, working with its allies, to block the financing of terrorism, so these terrible and atrocious acts of terrorism are stopped -- the ultimate goal in this war on terrorism.

I'll answer any questions you may have.

MODERATOR: Great. And one of the first things I do ask is limit the questions just to the topic. As always, wait for the microphone, and identify your name and your organization.

Q Edward Alden from the Financial Times. Secretary Taylor, you said that Hamas is clearly a terrorist organization of global reach, and the reason seems to be that they raise money in a number of different countries. Is that now the administration's definition -- that any organization that raises money outside its own country is thereby a terrorist organization of global reach?

MR. TAYLOR: Hamas is responsible for the deaths of at least 77 people, that we're aware of. And there's several Americans in that as well.

The definitions of "global terrorism" are organizations that act in different ways around the world, and I think the Hamas -- and their atrocious acts -- is the reason why it's being listed at this point. It's a number of murders. You can -- you saw what happened this weekend in Israel.

MODERATOR: (Off mike.)

Q Andrei Sitov from Tass, from Russia. Have you discussed this subject with the visiting deputy finance minister and the head of the Committee on Financial Monitoring, Mr. Zhukov (sp)? Are they helping you? Are you helping them?

MR. TAYLOR: Yes. I think, as I indicated in a previous briefing here, the Russian government has been cooperating and assisting in the global effort. The foreign minister -- sorry, the finance minister, Kudrin, attended the very first meeting of the G-7 countries to put forth an action plan which called for the blocking of assets of all terrorists, as indicated in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373. So there has been cooperation from Russia, and there's been many contacts.

With respect to this particular individual, I really can't say.

Q Gianpiero Gamaleri, Italian News Agency, ANSA.

You mentioned already actions already taken in Italy and Canada against the Hamas financing system. Did the United States ask for those actions, or were those actions autonomous taken by these countries?

MR. TAYLOR: What we did this time, and as we do each time new names are added to the list, is indicate to our coalition partners -- those who have indicted that they want to cooperate -- that we were naming such individuals. Then they go through their own process in each country -- some can be very rapid; some take a longer period of time -- to, on their own accounts, designate those terrorists as subject to blocking in their financial system.

So I would call this a cooperative effort. Yes, in certain circumstances the U.S. will just simply ask. But in other cases, and the vast majority, there is a volunteer approach -- approach of cooperation, which involves simply mentioning the issue and then having the countries cooperate. So it's a combination of asking, cooperation and discussing the issue.

Q Hawlid Abdul Jawat (sp), Saudi TV.

Can you tell us a little bit about the timing -- why now and not before as far as the -- (off mike)?

MR. TAYLOR: Yes. Well, as you know, in the third list of terrorists, Hamas was listed as subject to blocking, along with the other foreign terrorist organizations that have been designated by the State Department. And then what we had always indicated we would do, and as President Bush has indicated, over time, as we establish additional information about the financing of these kinds of organizations, we're going to be naming them, and it's a process that involves time, involves a lot of care, a lot of thinking. And so at the appropriate time, we will designate these terrorists. And Hamas is, at this time, is where we thought that these particular financiers were supposed to be designated. And I'll just leave it at that.

I think there's a ongoing series of activities that Hamas has claimed responsibility for. As you know, the spokesperson of Hamas claimed responsibility for the event that took place over the weekend, and so this is an indication, I think, to the whole world, of the responsibility of this organization. There should be absolutely no doubt here in this particular case.

Q Chris Ansty (sp) with AFX News.

Secretary Taylor, a couple of senior Treasury officials said in a briefing earlier today that the actions today represent a new phase, because before, the assets frozen and the object of international cooperation was assets related to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Today represents a new phase because it's Hamas, which is not specifically Taliban or al Qaeda.

I'm wondering, do you anticipate or have you noticed a difference in the level of international cooperation to block assets related to Hamas, which is a function of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, in comparison to al Qaeda and Taliban, which have been linked specifically to what happened on September 11th?

MR. TAYLOR: We have -- we're maintaining the primary effort in our financing of terrorism on bin Laden and al Qaeda. That's really the focus and that's why so much of the activity has been in that area. But as President Bush has already indicated many times, he plans to expand this to all global terrorists, and this is an example of that. And we're going to continue to focus on bin Laden and al Qaeda and the names that are already out there -- the last designation, al-Barakaat, for example, remains a subject of blocking, and we're continuing to get more countries to participate in that blocking effort.

With respect to the different treatment of this versus others, I think we're going to have see. What -- we have indicated to our allies and our partners the importance of this, and many of them have responded indicating it is important. But I think what you'll have to see over time is to what extent there is a difference of approach here. And I very much hope there will be a equally serious and vigilant effort to block the assets of these terrorists, as well.

Q Damian Milverton (sp) from Dow Jones. Just to further that question from Chris, if you're going to look at all foreign terrorist groups eventually, do you think that will extend to, say, the ETA in Spain or the rebels in Colombia? The U.S. financial system is one that is quite open and is obviously used for all sorts of purposes. Do you believe that the U.S. might have a role in tackling those sort of groups as well, eventually?

MR. TAYLOR: I think I'm going to leave the decision about which groups to go after to later. And there's lots of considerations that take place here. One of the questions before yours asked about definitions, and there's many participants. The State Department has an important role here to play, as well as the enforcement community and the intelligence community.

So I think in terms of trying to anticipate what the next step is, there's nothing more to say than this is an effort which is long-term and global, and we're going to be extending this operation beyond al Qaeda and bin Laden, as we do in this case. Remember, the Security Council Resolution 1373 does not limit itself to al Qaeda and bin Laden. So there's every authority in that security council resolution, every requirement in that resolution for countries to block the assets of terrorists like these individuals and firms.

Q (Inaudible) -- Turkey's Anatolia New Agency. Are you considering freezing the assets of organizations which have links to the terrorist PKK operating in Turkey? PKK is in the list of terrorist organizations of State Department. And what is Turkey's contribution to freezing assets of terrorist organizations?

MR. TAYLOR: On the last part of your question, Turkey has been very cooperative in their efforts to issue blocking orders and to participate in other ways in this war on the financing of terrorism and in general the war against terrorism itself.

And with respect to the other organizations you mentioned, we'll just have to wait and see how the process works out. Remember, this is one in where there's a lot of care taken to establishing clear connections to the financiers of the terrorist organizations and their connections, and some of this will take time. We want to be careful about it so that there's no questions that remain outstanding. So I can't really tell you when that will occur.

Q (Inaudible), Le Monde of France. Back to Hamas, it's not the first time that Hamas claimed responsibility for a bombing against Israeli civilians. So my question is, did you know that these three financial organizations were financing Hamas before today? And for how long have you been knowing it? Or did you learn it recently? And where did the information come from?

MR. TAYLOR: Well, the information comes from many sources. As we've indicated, as we designate names publicly, is we're getting that information from intelligence services, from enforcement services, police services. And it comes from many different sources. So to answer which source is really not possible, except to say that this is very firm -- we have very firm evidence in these particular cases.

I think in terms of the timing, and you know, the best answer to that question is what I said before, that these all take time to establish the evidence. There's questions of communication within the U.S. government about making sure the evidence is appropriate to use. And this all takes time to make sure we get it right. And we can't predict. Some will be a shorter period of time, and some will be a longer period of time. But these are cases where the evidence is very clear.

Q Thomas Gorguissian, Al Wafd, Egypt. The first question is clarification. What is the amount of money blocked in the USA?

And my second question: The two organization(s) or two banks, let's say, are mainly -- it seems that, according to published reports, are mainly -- they don't have any activities here. What is the significance of putting their names? Especially they are working in Palestinian Authority's land or whatever is -- West Bank and Gaza -- what do you expect from that, putting their names and blocking assets, if they don't have any assets?

MR. TAYLOR: Well, two things. The answer to your first question is, since September 11th, in the United States we've blocked $27.8 million worth of assets. And that doesn't -- since September 11th, in the United States, 27.8 million; worldwide, 61 million. And that leaves 33.2 million in other countries. That doesn't include the 1.9 million so far today, that's just come in today. That's another 1.9 (million) which you'd add to that.

And the second part of your question, just briefly?

Q The two banks --

MR. TAYLOR: Oh, yeah. Well, these are -- remember, this is a global effort, and I want to emphasize that. It's not sufficient to focus simply on organizations which we suspect to be operating in the United States. First, most of them operate in many countries. So we're not going to determine which of those who are financing terrorists are in one country versus another to make our decision. Al-Barakaat is -- was operating in 40 countries, as far as we know; it could be more. And these two other banks, Beit El-Mal and Al Aqsa, are operating somewhere, and we ask countries to block those assets if they've seen them.

And remember, a bank -- just because it's operating in a country doesn't mean it doesn't have assets or a corresponding relationship at other locations. So we're blocking the assets of these organizations -- in these cases, these banks -- and they can have deposits in many places. So what we're asking is every country to participate in that blocking effort.

Q Teniaganao (sp), Jiji Press. Undersecretary, you mentioned the international cooperation, so I have two questions. You asked the Japanese government too for such cooperation? And the second is, is there any assets related to Hamas in Japan, do you think?

MR. TAYLOR: Well, yes, we have asked the Japanese government for cooperation, as we've asked virtually all governments. And the

Japanese have been participating in the blocking. They have issued blocking orders for our previous lists.

And with respect to our knowledge about where the assets of the Holy Land Foundation, Beit El-Mal, or Al Aqsa, we don't know where all of the assets are, of course. And that's the whole purpose of making this global, is to make sure we get them wherever they are.

And so, we don't know exactly how many there are in each country, or each location or each part of the country. We do have information about the four states in the United States, but that's just representative. It could be in any country in the world. So are really hoping that this becomes global and that Japan cooperates, as I know they will.

MODERATOR: We have time for two or three more.

Q Hiroshi Shigeru (ph), Nikkei newspapers. I have a question related to a much broader issue, in which money-laundering issues. I think just half a year ago, U.S. Treasury Department released that the United States will not support OECD initiative, which asks -- (inaudible) -- countries to change an usually low tax rate to a normal level. Can you tell us whether you still keep the same position just a half a year ago, in terms of money-laundering issues?

MR. TAYLOR: Well, you mentioned money-laundering, but then you --

Q (Off mike) -- OECD countries asked -- (inaudible) -- countries to change an unusually low tax rate to normal level, and I think the United States won't support that.

MR. TAYLOR: It's a -- let me answer your question. There's money laundering and there's tax issues. Two different things.

Q Yes, yes. Yes, yes.

MR. TAYLOR: The OECD is involved in both. And the money- laundering activity is one that the United States Treasury secretary, O'Neill, has been very much behind in making sure that works well. And in this particular case, money-laundering activities are similar, though not the same, to blocking the financing of terrorism. It's -- some are the same tools. But as you know, the Financial Action Task Force has added eight times to their old list of recommendations on money laundering to go -- just to focus on combatting the financing of terrorism. So I think that focus has not changed; it's been intensified because of this war and the financing of terrorism.

The tax issue is completely different. And what Secretary O'Neill indicated is it's not appropriate for an international organization, or for that matter, other countries, to be telling another country what their tax rate should be. And I think that point has been made quite well, and there's agreement about it now.

And in the meantime, the United States has initiated a host of information- sharing treaties with respect to taxation. So I think that you have to distinguish those two things. They're quite different.

Q Qualid Abdul Jawat, Saudi TV, again. What would qualify an organization to be viewed as a terrorist organization of global reach? And I emphasize what does "global reach" mean exactly and how do they get qualified to be viewed as such?

MR. TAYLOR: Well, the definition is a terrorist organization that is having impact on citizens of the world. And they don't have to be in many different countries. As you know, the terrible attack on the World Trade Center killed the people of many different countries, many different nationalities, many different races, and that's global. It's affecting everybody. And so we'll see how the definition turns out, but -- and I don't think we should dwell too much on intricacies of a definition right now when there is groups that are so clearly associated with murdering and killing innocent people.

MODERATOR: Thank you all very much.

END.

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