12 October 2001

Treasury's O'Neill on Freezing Additional Terrorist Assets

The United States has frozen the U.S. financial assets of 39 more persons and entities connected with terrorism, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says.

In an October 12 statement, O'Neill said he and Secretary of State Colin Powell notified all U.S. financial institutions of the action covering businesses and charitable organizations known to funnel money to the al Qaeda terrorist network.

O'Neill said some U.S. allies had simultaneously taken similar action.

"We are determined to deny terrorists the resources to carry out their acts of evil," he said.

In a September 24 executive order, President Bush froze financial assets of 27 individuals and organizations connected with terrorism.

Following is the text of the statement:

The President fired the first shot in the war on terrorism several weeks ago when he ordered accounts of suspected terrorist blocked in the United States and spurred the entire world to act with unprecedented speed and cooperation to disrupt the financial underpinnings of terrorism.

This morning we took the next step in this financial war. Together Secretary Powell and I notified all financial institutions in the United States to block the assets of 39 additional persons and entities that are either wanted terrorists or who are known to financially support terrorism. The list includes businesses and charitable organizations that funnel money to the al Qaeda terrorist network. U.S. assets of all 22 of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists are now subject to this blocking order. Under the Executive Order signed by the President on September 24, all U.S. citizens and businesses are prohibited from doing business with the people and organizations on this list.

We coordinated this blocking order with our allies around the world, and many of them instituted blocking orders today as well. Together with the State Department we have built an international coalition to disrupt the terrorist financing network.

This list will continue to grow as we share information between nations and develop an increasingly clear understanding of the complex network of terrorist financing. We are determined to deny terrorists the resources to carry out their acts of evil.