List of 291 international terror suspects adopted
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A list of 291 people and firms classified as international terrorists or terror groups by the United Nations Security Council was adopted in Thailand yesterday after Justice Minister Pracha Promnok signed an order authorising its publication.
The people and organisations on the list, made public on the website of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) at www.amlo.go.th, will be banned from carrying out financial transactions in Thailand. The names on the list are individuals associated with terror syndicate al-Qaeda or entities, other groups and undertakings associated with it.
An AMLO committee has been set up to investigate whether any of the persons on the list had ever transferred their assets in, out or via Thailand to support terrorist activities in the country. Any such transaction would be frozen otherwise financial institutions found responsible or instrumental in such transactions would be fined Bt1 million or Bt10,000 a day until the unlawful action is stopped.
Money transactions involving the people or entities on the list would be halted if or when detected.
The Foreign Ministry forwarded the list to AMLO, which proposed it to the minister. According to AMLO, the list includes 227 individual foreigners and 64 foreign companies on a terrorist blacklist of the United Nations Security Council. However no Thais or members of the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional appear on the United Nations list.
The announcement is aimed at convincing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that Thailand is cracking down on money laundering and terrorist financing activities after the country was criticised for not taking adequate steps.
FATF groups 34 countries and two regional organisations covering the world’s major financial centres.
It recently upgraded Thailand from dark grey to grey, after the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Act and Anti-Terrorism Act were amended to allow the new list to be adopted.
All Thai financial service providers will have to check their client lists and report any of the banned names.
Sihanart Prayoonrat, secretary-general of AMLO, said the government needed to announce the list so that he can inform the next meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering that Thailand has joined the fight against money laundering by terrorists. This would help get Thailand off the watch list, he said.
The FATF has agreed in principle to remove Thailand from its list of high-risk countries for financial transactions. The Paris-based intergovernmental organisation, tasked with fighting money laundering and terrorism financing worldwide, made this decision at its meeting in Paris in February.
Seehanart said the FATF agreed to upgrade Thailand’s status from “dark grey” to “grey”.
A list of Thai people suspected of giving financial or logistical support to the insurgency in the deep South will soon be announced, after the Civil Court approved the list, at the recommendation of the Office of Attorney General, which is verifying the names nominated by the AMLO.
