HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor orders asset freezing action against two terrorist groups [March 2004]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 24 March 2004.

Chancellor Gordon Brown today instructed the Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury, to direct financial institutions that any funds which they hold for or on behalf of five senior members of Hamas must be frozen.  The individuals are; Musa Abu Marzouk, Imad Khalil Al-Alami, Usama Hamdan, Khalid Mishaal and Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

This action has been taken because the Treasury have reasonable grounds for suspecting that four of the individuals are, or may be, persons who facilitate or participate in the commission of acts of terrorism and one, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, is or may be a person who commits, facilitates or participates in such acts.

In addition, the Chancellor has instructed the Bank of England to add to its list of individuals and terrorist groups subject to an asset freeze the names “Kadek” and “Kongra-Gel” as aliases of the terrorist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK),  which is already subject to such a freeze.

The UK has already taken extensive action to combat the financing of terrorism, including:

• Both before and after September 11, 2001 the UK froze a total of around £70 million of terrorist assets. The bulk of these assets have now been unfrozen, and made available to the legitimate government in Afghanistan.
• At present, 38 bank accounts are currently frozen in UK institutions under Treasury powers to implement UN measures against terrorist financing.
• New legal powers to target terrorist funds have been introduced, including the Terrorism Act 2000, the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 and Orders in Council implementing UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1390.
• The UK has so far funded £3.65 million of counter-terrorist training abroad.  UK financial investigators continue to work closely with their counterparts in the United States, Europe and in other countries.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said:

“The UK has been a leading country in implementing UN freezes of terrorist assets and taking appropriate domestic action. And I can announce that I have today instructed the Bank of England, under the Terrorism Order, to add further names to the list of those whose assets are to be frozen, including two aliases of a Kurdish terrorist group and five senior members of Hamas.”

Notes to Editors

1. The Chancellor has instructed the Bank of England to direct all financial institutions to take immediate action to freeze funds belonging to five senior leaders of Hamas. The individuals are:

• Musa Abu Marzouk
• Imad Khalil Al-Alami
• Usama Hamdan
• Khalid Mishaal
• Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

2. The asset freeze is authorised under the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2001.

3. The Order gives the Treasury power to freeze the funds of persons provided certain criteria set out in the Order are met. These include that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the person is or may be either:

within Article 4(1)(a) “a person who commits, attempts to commit, facilitates or participates in the commission of acts of terrorism”;

within Article 4(1)(b) “a person controlled or owned directly or indirectly by a person in (a)”; or

within Article 4(1)(c) “a person acting on behalf, or at the direction, of a person in (a)”.

4. The Treasury implement asset freezes by instructing the Bank of England, as their agent, to issue a notice directing financial institutions that any funds that they hold for or on behalf of the listed persons or entities must be frozen.  The Bank Notice is published on the Bank of England’s website and emailed to some 600 financial institutions and trade associations.