Terror funds to be targeted by G-7
Geraldine Amiel, Agence France-Presse, Paris
The fight against the financing of global terrorism is the main item on the agenda for the G-7 finance ministers and central bankers meeting due to take place on Saturday in Washington.
First planned for Sept. 28, the meeting was postponed so that each member could draw up measures against the financing of terrorism in the light of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the U.S. Treasury said.
G-7 is made up of the seven most industrialized countries in the world: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
During the meeting the ministers will set out what they have already done and co-ordinate future action.
French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said the work would "lead to the eradication of all the networks of illegal finance."
Speaking two weeks ago at a meeting of European Union finance ministers he explained: "Fighting against the abuses of globalization, we are also fighting against the deep causes of terrorism."
Most of the G-7 states have already taken action against terrorist networks in the light of the attacks, including 200 bank accounts being frozen in Germany and an unspecified number in Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
U.S. President George W. Bush ordered that banks freeze the U.S. assets of Osama bin Laden and 26 other individuals and groups.
On Wednesday the European Parliament voted to fast-track EU legislation to freeze the European assets of 27 individuals and groups linked to terrorism, which means it could be adopted on Thursday.
If it goes through, the regulation could be put before EU foreign ministers for final approval when they meet in Luxembourg next Monday, which would make it the only piece of legislation to go through the entire EU lawmaking process in less than one week.
The French finance ministry said that Fabius would lead the debates on dirty money, and would try and ensure that the fight against terrorist finance was included in the remit of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which was set up by the G-7 to combat international money laundering.
FATF now has 29 member nations and on Sept. 7 published its second black list of 19 countries which it said were not co- operating with the fight against money laundering.
How the French proposal will be greeted by the United States is not known.
In the early days of the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. made clear its opposition to a clamp down on tax havens, arguing that to do so would risk compromising the sovereignty of nations.
With the increased need for security after the Sept. 11 attacks, this attitude may change, some well placed European sources say.