BI freezes 'terrorist' accounts
BI freezes 'terrorist' accounts
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Indonesia (BI) has frozen accounts belonging to seven
Indonesians listed with the United Nations (UN) antiterrorism
committee, the central bank governor said on Friday.
BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said the bank had also
authorized the police to check and stop the flow of funds from
and into the accounts.
"I think we have (got some of them) and I have issued a letter
to the police authorizing them to check and stop the flow into
and from the accounts of the seven individuals," he told
reporters here.
The central bank alone could not freeze the accounts and had
therefore asked for police assistance to do so, he said.
The Indonesians listed with the UN Counter Terrorism Committee
(CTC) are Yasin Syawal, Imam Samudra, Mukhlas, Parlindungan
Siregar, Aris Munandar, Agus Dwikarna and Fatur Rochman Al-Ghozi.
They are seven of 20 people recently listed with the CTC who are
allegedly affiliated to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network, which
has been listed with the United Nations (UN) as a terrorist
network.
Imam Samudra was sentenced to death on Wednesday by the
Denpasar District Court for plotting the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali
blasts that claimed 202 lives, mostly foreign holidaymakers.
Defendant Mukhlas could also face the same sentence for his
alleged role in the bombings. He is the alleged treasurer of the
group that perpetrated the bomb attacks.
Samudra and Mukhlas are alleged members of JI, which has also
been blamed for the JW Marriott Hotel bombing in South Jakarta
early last month.
The UN's call for all members to freeze the assets of
suspected terrorists came at the request of the United States.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) recently added the 20 names to
its list of groups and individuals whose assets should be frozen
given their suspected connection with Osama bin Laden and his al-
Qaeda terrorist network. The list now includes 123 people and 98
organizations.
Under UNSC Resolution No.1267/2001, all UN member countries
must freeze assets and accounts of all groups and individuals
listed with the CTC as terrorist suspects.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda had earlier denied
that Indonesia had come under international pressure to freeze
the accounts.
"We are not complying with the demands of a certain country,
but with the UN, as we are a member of the world organization,"
he said.
Burhanuddin said only the accounts of the seven people would
be frozen and that dozens of accounts were involved.
"We will move quickly to freeze other assets whenever requests
are made, because we are racing against time on this issue,"
Burhanuddin said.
Separately, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the
police were having difficulty freezing bank accounts of the
terrorist suspects.
"There is indeed a lot of information pertaining to the bank
accounts provided by Bank of Indonesia, but the following steps
will be very difficult as we have discovered that the identities
and the addresses given were fake," he said.
He said the police still needed time to check.
When asked if the information from BI was on the accounts of
the seven Indonesians listed by the U.S. government, he said: "I
haven't checked because the information keeps coming. I will ask
Pak Erwin to do that," he said, referring to National Police
chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng.
Da'i also said the police could not confirm information from
Hambali, JI's top operative for Southeast Asia currently in U.S.
custody, that he had transferred US$45,000 to an account in an
Indonesian bank.
"It is still intelligence information, and not yet a legal
fact," he said.
Sources with the police said that financial authorities had
recently identified and frozen 43 accounts suspected of terrorist
links.