IRAQI ASSETS:RASHEED BANK ACCOUNTS IN SPAIN

UNCLAS MADRID 000856

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE PASS EB/ESC/TFS FOR GLASS/SALOOM; IO/PHO; L/EB
TREASURY FOR ZARATE, ROSS AND WALLWORTH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN PREL IZ SP UNSC
SUBJECT: IRAQI ASSETS:RASHEED BANK ACCOUNTS IN SPAIN

REF: (A) SECSTATE 19363 (B) MADRID 00711


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 4.


2. (U) Though we received information from the Ministry of
Economy that Rasheed Bank accounts were liquidated by the
Banco Arab Espanol (ref b),we were contacted by officials of
Spain's Financial Intelligence Unit, SEPBLAC (Executive
Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money
Laundering) who wanted to discuss the issue further. We met
March 12 with SEPBLAC Director Gabriel Panizo Gonzalez,
Assistant Director Ignacio Palicio and the officer tasked
with following up on this issue, Juan Carlos Calleja Lopez.


3. (SBU) The officials reported that SEPBLAC plans to use its
bank supervisory powers to conduct an unannounced inspection
of Banco Arab Espanol. They were surprised by ref A,s
characterization of the suspect account as "not numbered,"
informing us that unnumbered accounts have been illegal in
Spain for some time. They asked if we could solicit
additional information from Washington.


4. (SBU) Action Request: To assist our Spanish colleagues, we
request clarification of whether records actually show an
unnumbered account, or whether the account number is simply
unknown, as well as any additional information we can share
with SEPBLAC authorities.
ARGYROS