Tracking terror funds in SE Asia a tough task
Tracking terror funds in SE Asia a tough task
Associated Press, Manila
Southeast Asian governments are finding it tougher to stop terror
financing than money laundering because of informal transaction
systems and poor financial regulation, Asian Development Bank
official said on Friday.
"Some recent incidents show that funds for terrorist financing
are not necessarily very huge," said Motoo Noguchi, an ADB
adviser on anti-money laundering activities. "Even US$10,000 can
trigger a tragic incident. Size of the money doesn't matter."
For decades, the Manila-based bank has helped governments
combat money laundering. But tracking the money of suspected
terrorist groups has proven more difficult because of a lack of
information exchange and extradition treaties between individual
nations, Noguchi told reporters.
"We really don't know the size and magnitude of terrorist
funds being laundered," he said. "We haven't got so much calls
for assistance in this field ... government responses are
delayed."
Southeast Asia's developing nations, the ADB's main clients,
suffer from weak financial sectors and the existence of legal and
illegal informal financial transaction systems - sometimes known
as "underground banking" - which make the countries vulnerable to
terrorists, Noguchi said.
Such systems rarely provide transaction records or the
identity of the customer, he said. Trading in cash or gold makes
it harder to trace the source of the money.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government and
other nations began an aggressive program of freezing bank
accounts and other assets of suspected terrorists and groups said
to support terrorism around the world. So far, U.S. Treasury
Department officials estimate that $112 million in assets have
been frozen worldwide - $34 million in the United States and $78
million elsewhere - in more than 500 accounts.
U.S. officials say the asset freezes and arrests have weakened
al-Qaeda, but a recent UN report said the global campaign to
block terror financing had stalled, with only $10 million frozen
in the past eight months.
The report said the campaign has pushed al-Qaeda underground
but hasn't stopped the flow of money and fresh recruits.
The ADB is taking part in a regional conference next week in
Bali, Indonesia, organized by Indonesia and Australia, where
senior officials from 33 countries in the Asian-Pacific region
will discuss strengthening efforts to fight terrorist financing.
Bali was the scene of terrorist bombings at tourist nightspots
Oct. 12 that left over 190 people dead, nearly half of them
Australians.