S'pore questions UN on al-Qaeda
S'pore questions UN on al-Qaeda
Agencies, Singapore
Singapore took issue on Monday with a draft United Nations report that describes the city state as a place where the al-Qaeda network is receiving financial support, saying the claims were unsubstantiated.
"The report did not contain any details or mention any specific investments from Singapore that are linked to al-Qaeda," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The United Nations report said efforts to free al-Qaeda's funds around the world were sloppy and it named Singapore as one of the countries where the group, blamed for the Sept. 11 air attacks on the United States, has investments and bank accounts.
"We will contact the (UN) Monitoring Group to find out the basis of its comments, which have not been substantiated in the report" a spokesman from the ministry said in the statement on Saturday.
The UN report said al-Qaeda had investments in Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Panama and bank accounts in Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Malaysia and Vienna.
The UN draft report was released on Thursday and will be presented this week to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday that Malaysian financial authorities have no evidence to back the report.
The report was made for a Security Council committee enforcing a financial, travel and arms embargo against al-Qaeda and Afghanistan's now-ousted Taliban rulers.
The draft report said al-Qaeda is receiving financial support from Osama bin Laden's personal inheritance and investments, from its own members and supporters and from charitable organizations.
Estimates of the portfolio's value ranges between US$30 million and $300 million, it said.
"We will contact (the United Nations) monitoring group to find out the basis of its comments, which have not been substantiated," the ministry statement said.
Under a UN Security Council resolution adopted unanimously in January, all nations are required to freeze the finances and impose arms embargoes and travel bans on individuals and groups associated with bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.
Singapore insists it has done its part and noted on Monday that it arrested 13 men in December who were members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a local terrorist cell that is believed to have links to al-Qaeda. The men are accused of allegedly plotting to bomb U.S. targets in Singapore.
"We want to emphasize that Singapore is fully committed to the global anti-terrorism campaign," the statement said.
Singapore had taken "all necessary measures" to implement the security council's counter terrorism resolutions and that it was "working closely with countries in the region on practical measures to combat terrorism," it said.