11 December 2001

U.S. Treasury, Interpol Work to Stem Terrorist Financing

The U.S. Treasury and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) have announced plans to create a terrorist financing database that will help curb the flow of money to terrorist groups and assist police in their criminal investigations.

Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement Jimmy Gurul��and Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble announced their joint undertaking at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, December 11.

According to a U.S. Treasury news release, both officials were optimistic that the database could be operational within 60 days.

Noble called on each of Interpol's 179 member countries to identify information on terrorist financing networks. The database would also consolidate international and national lists of terrorist financiers and make it available to law enforcement officials around the world.

"Interpol is committed to both the fight against terrorism and the funds that make such heinous acts possible" Noble said. "We are dedicated to the task of shutting down funds earmarked for terror."

Following is the text of the U.S. Treasury news release:

Interpol and the U.S. Department of Treasury Forge New Partnership in the Fight Against Terrorist Financing

Meeting at Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, France, on the three month anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement Jimmy Gurul��and Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble announced a new joint Treasury-Interpol partnership to crack down on terrorist financing.

The two law enforcement officials announced their intention to establish an international terrorist financing database and Secretary General Noble publicly called on each of Interpol's 179 member countries to identify important information regarding the financial support of terrorism that would also be incorporated into the database. The Interpol database would consolidate international and national lists of terrorist financiers and make it available to police around the world to prevent the flow of funds to terrorist groups and to assist in criminal investigations.

The Treasury Department will work closely with Interpol to develop the foundations for this new tool to fight terrorism. "The fight against terrorist financing can only be successful by pooling together all available resources to crack down on those choosing to fund acts of terror against innocent people," said Treasury Under Secretary Gurul�� "Today Interpol joined us in strengthening that effort by bringing their law enforcement expertise and global infrastructure to the war on terrorist financing."

In addition, Secretary General Noble also extended Interpol's full support to the Treasury Department's operational task force Green Quest's assignment of a permanent U.S. Interpol agent to the task force. "Interpol is committed to both the fight against terrorism and the funds that make such heinous acts possible" said Secretary General Noble. "We are dedicated to the task of shutting down funds earmarked for terror. The international law enforcement community looks forward to partnering with the Treasury Department to develop future tools to crack down on funds destined for acts of terror and other illegal purposes." Both officials were optimistic that the terrorist financing database could be operational within sixty days.