Indonesia ready to freeze JI assets, accounts: Official
Indonesia ready to freeze JI assets, accounts: Official
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is ready to freeze assets and accounts belonging
to 10 Indonesian terrorist suspects once the United Nations
endorses a United States proposal to that effect, an official
says.
The U.S. submitted a proposal to the UN Security Council over
the weekend, seeking to freeze accounts of 10 members of Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist network blamed for a string
of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the deadly Bali
bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, and the JW Marriott Hotel bombing on
Aug. 5, 2003.
At least seven of 20 suspected JI terrorists are Indonesians,
some of whom are currently on trial for their role in the Bali
bombings, which killed at least 202 people and injured over 300
others.
The U.S. proposal would automatically become a UN resolution
if no member country raised any objection to the move within 72
hours.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on
Sunday Jakarta would freeze assets belonging to suspected
terrorists as it was the obligation of any UN member to comply
with its decision.
"These individuals, at various levels, are clearly persons of
interest to Indonesia and have appeared in Indonesian courts for
their terror acts," Marty told The Jakarta Post.
"The Indonesian government needs to entertain fully and will
freeze the accounts and assets as required by the UN," he said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said, at the end of a
finance ministers meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) member countries in Phuket, Thailand, on Friday, that
Washington had frozen the accounts and assets of 10 members of
the JI network.
Washington had also proposed the list to the UN Security
Council and, should there be no objections from other UN member
countries within 72 hours, then all countries were required to
freeze the assets and accounts of those on the list.
The 10 JI members were Yasin Syawal, Mukhlis Yunos, Imam
Samudra, Huda bin Abdul Haq, alias Mukhlas, Parlindungan Siregar,
Aris Munandar, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, Agus Dwikarna, Abul Hakim
Murad and Julkipli Salim Y Salamuddin.
On Saturday, Washington added another 10 names to the list,
mostly Malaysians who were said to be members of the terrorist
network.
The UN is expected to announce the decision on Monday.
Marty said freezing the terrorists' assets and accounts was
being carried out under UN Security Council Resolution 1267/2001
on the obligation of UN members to freeze all assets of terrorist
suspects related to the al-Qaeda network, accused of perpetrating
the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
Marty underlined that as a UN member, Indonesia had an
obligation to comply with the resolution.
In Indonesia the freezing of bank accounts may be carried out
only after there have been requests from the Attorney General's
Office to Bank Indonesia, the central bank.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on
Sunday that Washington had provided Indonesian police with a
transcript of the interrogation of terrorist suspect Riduan
Isamuddin, alias Hambali, who is currently in U.S. custody.
"We have received a full interrogation report from the U.S.,
but need to cross-check the data,' Da'i said, as quoted by Antara
on Sunday.
Indonesia has been seeking direct access to and independent
interrogation of Hambali, who had been implicated in the Bali
bombings and Marriott attack, as well as a string of church
bombings on Christmas Eve 2000.