TERRORIST FINANCE: PRENOTIFICATION OF DESIGNATION

S E C R E T AMMAN 000631 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EB/ESC/TFS (DNELSON),S/CT (KUSHNER),NEA/ARPI (TWILLIAMS),NEA/ELA (DBARON),IO/PSC (JSCHWEITZER) NSC FOR JKEMERSON TREASURY FOR ZARATE OFAC FOR RWERNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2006 TAGS: KTFN ETTC EFIN PTER PREL CVIS SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE: PRENOTIFICATION OF DESIGNATION OF FADHLI AND DARWISH REF: STATE 9956 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b),(d),a nd (e) ¶1. (S) On January 18 emboffs delivered reftel points to Walid Obeidat, special assistant to the office director for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Siwar Massadeh from the Ministry,s Legal Affairs Department. Obeidat stated that he would immediately take initial steps to coordinate with Jordan's mission to the UN and with FM Mulki. He noted, however, that the upcoming five-day Eid al-Adha holiday (beginning January 19) would make a timely decision on Jordanian co-sponsorship of the designation somewhat more difficult to coordinate between the relevant GOJ stakeholders. ¶2. (C) On a separate but related matter, Obeidat confirmed that a new interagency committee, stood up to more efficiently manage bilateral requests on terrorism financing and related matters, met for the first time on January 16. The committee was created as a result of a directive from the Prime Minister signed in September 2004. Committee participants include the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the General Intelligence Department, and the MFA. Obeidat said the January 16 meeting was positive, and all participants are committed to developing an efficient mechanism to respond to requests for designation and freezing of assets in a timely manner. Because it was the first meeting, however, Obeidat said matters of substance were not addressed, including how to respond to several outstanding requests conveyed in our demarches in recent months. Massadeh noted that the committee would next convene on February 1, ahead of a DOJ delegation visit to Jordan. Obeidat promised to keep us apprised of this committee,s activities. HALE