The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)
Under the Terror Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (“TAFA 2010”), the Treasury is required to report quarterly to Parliament on its operation of the UK’s asset-freezing regime mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
This is the fourth report under the Act and it covers the period from 1 October 2011 to 31 December 2011. This report also covers the UK implementation of the UN-Al-Qaeda asset freezing regime.
Follow up to independent reviewer’s report
Following recommendations made by David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer, in his report on the operation of the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 published on 15 December 2011, the Treasury has revised the content and format of the quarterly report to provide additional information.
This report has been revised to take account of the independent reviewer’s recommendation to publish more information about the operation of the domestic asset-freezing regime. This information can be found in the table and text below. In accordance with the recommendation at paragraph 11.5 of the independent reviewer’s report, the lists at the end of this statement provide a breakdown by name of all those designated by the UK and the EU in pursuance of UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
The Treasury has also decided to report more fully on the operation of the EU asset-freezing regime in the UK under the EU Regulation (EC) 2580/2001 which implements the UNSCR 1373 against external terrorist threats to the EU. Under this regime, the EU has responsibility for designations and the Treasury has responsibility for licensing and compliance with the regime in the UK under part 1 of TAFA 2010.
The Treasury has published its response to the independent reviewer’s report today (8 February 2012) and the next quarterly report will provide an update on implementation of other recommendations which impact on the operation of the asset-freezing regime in the UK.
Additional information, where available, is also provided for the al-Qaeda regime in the revised format adopted to meet the independent reviewer’s recommendation.
The following table sets out the key asset-freezing activity in the UK during the quarter ending 31 December 2011:
TAFA 2010 | EU Reg(EC) 2580/2001 | Al-QaedaRregime UNSCR1989 | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assets frozen (as at 31/12/2011) | £33,000 | £11,000 | £72,0001 |
Number of accounts frozen in UK (at 31/12/11) | 70 | 10 | 39 |
New accounts frozen | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Accounts unfrozen | 4 | 0 | 2 |
Number of designations (at 31/12/11) | 42 | 51 | 343 |
(i) new designations (during Q4 2011) | 5 | 5 | 1 |
(ii) Delistings | 1 | 1 | 1 |
(iii) individuals in custody in UK | 15 | 0 | 3 |
(iv) individuals in UK, not in detention | 5 | 0 | 7 |
(v) individuals overseas | 14 | 26 | 242 |
(vi) groups | 8 (0 in UK) | 25 | 91 (2 in UK) |
Renewal of designation | 1 | n/a | n/a |
General Licences Issued in Q4 Amended (iii) Revoked | (i) 0 (ii) 5 (iii) 0 | ||
Specific Licences: | |||
(i) Issued (ii) Revoked | (i) 4 (ii) 9 | (i) 0 (ii) 0 | (i) 1 (ii) 2 |
1 This figure reflects the most up-to-date account balances available and includes approximately $64,000 of suspected terrorist funds frozen in the UK. This has been converted using exchange rates as of 04/01/12. |
The key areas of activity during the quarter were:
The Treasury made five new designations under TAFA 2010. These were in respect of Hamed Abdollahi, Manssor Arbabsiar, Abdul Reza Shahlai, Ali Gholam Shakuri, and Qasem Soleimani; and were the first new designations made under TAFA 2010. The five individuals were subsequently listed under EU Regulation 2580/2001.
Two reviews of existing designations were completed during the quarter, which resulted in the delisting of Ismail Bhuta and the renewal of designation of Bilal Abdullah.
Nine licences were revoked following the delisting of Ismail Bhuta.
The decrease in balances since the last quarter follows delistings made and licences issued (under which frozen funds have been released).
The Al-Qaeda (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011 were introduced in November to replace the Al-Qaeda and Taliban (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2010, following the split of the al-Qaeda and Afghanistan regimes agreed by the UN in June 2011.
Legal Challenges
Two legal challenges against designations made under both the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2009 and TAFA 2010 were ongoing in the quarter covered by this report. There were no specific developments during the quarter in the cases brought by Zana Rahim and Ismail Bhuta. No new challenges were made against the Treasury during the quarter.
Proceedings
In the quarter to 31 December 2011, no proceedings were initiated in respect of breaches of the prohibitions of the Act or the Al-Qaeda (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011.
(i) Designated persons under TAFA 2010 by name2
INDIVIDUALS
Hamed ABDOLLAHI |
Bilal Talal ABDULLAH |
Habib AHMED |
Imad Khalil AL-ALAMI |
Abdula Ahmed ALI |
Abdelkarim Hussein AL-NASSER |
Ibrahim Salih AL-YACOUB |
ManssorARBABSIAR |
Selman BOZKUR |
UsamaHAMDAN |
Nabeel HUSSAIN |
Tanvir HUSSAIN |
ZahoorlQBAL |
Umar ISLAM |
Hasan IZZ-AL-DIN |
ParvizKHAN |
Waheed Arafat KHAN |
Osman Adam KHATIB |
Musa Abu MARZOUK |
GulamMASTAFA |
Khalid MISHAAL |
Khalid Shaikh MOHAMMED |
Ramzi MOHAMMED |
Sultan MUHAMMAD |
YassinOMAR |
Hussein OSMAN |
Zana Abdul RAHIM |
Muktar Mohammed SAID |
Assad SARWAR |
Ibrahim SAVANT |
Abdul Reza SHAHLM |
All Gholam SHAKURI |
Qasem SOLEIMANI |
Waheed ZAMAN |
entities
1. basque fatherland and liberty (eta)
2. ejercito de liberacion nacional (eln)
3. fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de colombia (farc)
4. hizballah military wing, including external security organisation
5. holy land foundation for relief and development
6. popular front for the liberation of palestine - general command (pflp-gc)
7. popular front for the liberation of palestine (pflp)
8. sendero luminoso (sl)
2For full listing details please refer to: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/terrorism.htm.
(ii) Persons designated by the EU under Council Regulation (EC)2580/20013
Hamed ABDOLLAHI* |
Rabah Naami ABOU |
Maisi ABOUD |
Abdelkarim Hussein AL-NASSER* |
Ibrahim Salih AL YACOUB* |
ManssorARBABSIAR* |
Kamel ARIOUA |
Mohamad ASLI |
Rabah ASLI |
Mohammed BOUYERI |
Noureddine DARIB |
Abderrahmane DJABALI |
Sofiane Yacine FAHAS |
Hasan IZZ-AL-DIN* |
15. Khalid Shaikh MOHAMMED* |
FatehMOKTARI |
FaridNOUARA |
HoarlRESSOUS |
19. Noureddine SEDKAOUI |
Abdelghani SELMANI |
Sofiane SENOUCI |
Abdul Reza SHAHLAI* |
All Gholam SHAKURI* |
Qasem SOLEIMANI* |
Mohammed TINGUALI |
Jason Theodore WALTERS |
Abu Nidal Organisation (ANO) |
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade |
Al-Aqsa e.V. |
Al-Takfir and Al-Hijra |
Babbar Khalsa |
Communist Party of the Philippines, including New People’s Army (NPA), Philippines |
Gama’a al-lslamiyya (a.k.a. Al-Gama’a al-lslamiyya) (Islamic Group— IG) |
Islami Büyük Dogu Akincilar Cephesi (IBDA-C) (Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front) |
Hamas, including Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem |
Hizbul Mujahideen(HM) |
Hofstadgroep |
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development* |
International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) |
Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) |
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) (a.k.a. KONGRA-GEL) |
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) |
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army)* |
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) |
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)* |
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—General Command (PFLP-GC)* |
Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)* |
Devrimci Halk Kurtulu Partisi-Cephesi—DHKP/C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army/Front/Party) |
Sendero Luminoso (SL) (Shining Path)* |
Stichting Al Aqsa |
Teyrbazen azadiya Kurdistan(TAK) |
3for full listing details please refer to: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/terrorism.htm.
*EU listing rests on UK designation under TAFA 2010.