TERRORIST FINANCE -- KUWAIT: FREEZE ACTIONS ON

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000921

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP (GLASS)
STATE FOR S/CT
STATE FOR NEA/ARP AND NEA/RA
STATE FOR IO/PHO (PEREZ)
STATE FOR EUR/PGI (COOK/REASOR)
STATE FOR EUR/RUS (MORROW/BOSSHART)
NSC FOR PETERS
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL AUFHAUSER
TREASURY FOR OFAC DIRECTOR NEWCOMB
TREASURY FOR TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC EFIN PTER PREL KU
SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE -- KUWAIT: FREEZE ACTIONS ON
LAJNAT AL-DAAWA AL-ISLAMIYYA ACCOUNTS?

REF: KUWAIT 721 AND PREVIOUS (NOTAL)


1. One local Arabic-language daily newspaper front-paged a
short piece on March 15 suggesting that Kuwait's Central Bank
had taken action to freeze accounts of the Lajnat Al-Daawa
Al-Islamiyya. Embassy informal translation of the piece
follows:

"Government source: Al-Daawa Reponse to Accusations Not
Convincing"

The issue of the freezing of the Islamic Daawa Committee's
assets funds by the Central Bank for suspicion of its
involvement in financing terrorism came to the fore
yesterday, High ranking government sources said that the
Committee's response to the list of 11 French accusations was
not convincing, while at the same time taking into account
that Paris has no conclusive evidence of (the Committee's)
involvement in financing terrorism.


2. Post will follow up with Central Bank and MFA officials to
discover what, if any, funds were actually frozen.
JONES