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UK Asset Freezing Regime

In a written ministerial statement of 10 October 2006, the previous Economic Secretary undertook to report to Parliament on a quarterly basis on the operation of the UK's asset freezing regime. This is the third of these reports and covers the period April-June 2007.¹ Asset-freezing designations"In the quarter April-June 2007, the Treasury made three domestic designations under the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2006.""None of these were persons already designated under earlier Orders.""The Terrorism Order and the Al-Qaida and Taliban Order provide, where appropriate, for designations to be made confidentially and with restricted circulation of notice. No persons were designated on this basis in this quarter.""One person was designated on the basis of closed source material provided by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.""There were no financial sanctions listings at the EU or the UN in relation to terrorism or Al-Qaida and the Taliban of persons with links to the UK.""No designated persons have been delisted in this quarter.""A total of 244 separate accounts and approximately £570,000² of suspected terrorist funds have been frozen in the UK since 2001." Reviews"The Treasury keeps domestic asset-freezing cases under review. A number of formal reviews have been initiated in this quarter and the review of 1 case has been completed. In this case a decision was taken following the review to maintain the asset freeze." Licensing policy"In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1452 (2002), the Treasury operates a licensing system whereby designated persons and others are able to apply to make or receive payments under specific and, if necessary, monitored conditions. In this quarter, the following licences were issued:""Seven listed persons were granted basic expenses licences (two of which were for benefits payments)""No listed persons were granted extraordinary expenses licences; and""six listed persons were granted legal expenses licences.""In addition, the households of three listed persons were granted benefits licences in accordance with the policy set out in the previous Economic Secretary's statement of 3 July 2006 to Parliament.""¹ The detail that can be provided to the House on a quarterly basis is subject to the need to avoid the identification, directly or indirectly, of personal or operationally sensitive information.""² This figure includes approximately $58,000 of suspected terrorist funds frozen in the UK. This has been converted using current exchange rates. Future fluctuations in the exchange rate may impact on the contribution this sum makes to future totals of suspected terrorist funds frozen."