Chancellor orders asset freezing against terror funders

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 Sulayman DARWISH must be frozen immediately.

The action has been taken because HM Treasury has reasonable grounds for suspecting that Sulayman DARWISH meets the test under the Al Qa’ida and the Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002 and the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2001.

Notes to editors

The Chancellor has instructed the Bank of England to direct all UK financial institutions to take immediate action to freeze funds belonging to Sulayman DARWISH. This means that any funds held by Sulayman DARWISH in UK cannot be released. It is now a criminal offence for any financial institution to hold or facilitate funds held by Sulayman DARWISH.

1. The asset freeze is authorised under the UN measures to combat the financing of the Al Qa’ida and the Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002, and the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2001.

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

Article 4 of the Terrorism Order 2001

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)”.

and

Article 8 of the Al Qa’ida and the Taliban Order 2002

within Article 8(1) “a listed person or a person acting on behalf of a listed person”.

3. 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.

4. Media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury press office on 020 7270 5238.

5. Non-media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Correspondence and Enquiry Unit on 020 7270 4558 or by e-mail to public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk.

6. This press release and other Treasury publications and information are available on the Treasury website. If you would like Treasury press releases to be sent to you automatically by e-mail you can subscribe to this service from the press release site on the website.