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Terrorism: Finance

My honourable friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mark Hoban) has today issued the following Written Ministerial Statement. Under the Terrorist 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 fifth report under the Act and it covers the period from 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2012. This report also covers the UK implementation of the UN al-Qaeda asset-freezing regime and the operation of the European Union (EU) asset-freezing regime in the UK under EU regulation (EC) 2580/2001, which implements UNSCR 1373 against external terrorist threats to the EU. Under the latter 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. Annexes 1 and 2 to 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. Following the publication in February 2012 of the Treasury's response to the independent reviewer's first report on the operation of TAFA 2010, the Treasury is continuing work to implement the independent reviewer's recommendations. Progress on these will be reported in future reports to Parliament. The following table sets out the key asset-freezing activity in the UK during the quarter ending 31 March 2012:

¹This 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 02/04/12. The key area of activity during the quarter was:"Reviews of the remaining 36 existing designations, not reported on in the previous quarterly report, were conducted during the quarter, which resulted in the renewal of 34 designations and the delisting of Habib Ahmed and Selman Bozkur. The renewals and delistings were all publicised on the Treasury website. All current designations under TAFA 2010 are listed at Annex I." Legal Challenges Three 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. The challenges brought by Ismail Bhuta and Habib Ahmed were withdrawn during the quarter, in accordance with agreed terms of settlement. There were no specific developments during the quarter in the case brought by Zana Rahim. Proceedings In the quarter to 31 March 2012, no proceedings were initiated in respect of breaches of the prohibitions of the Act or the Al-Qaida (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011.