FIGHTING TERRORIST FINANCING IN THAILAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 002013

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS, EB/EPPD, S/CT. IO/PSC
TREASURY FOR OASIA AND OFAC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2015
TAGS: EFIN PTER ETTC KTFN TH
SUBJECT: FIGHTING TERRORIST FINANCING IN THAILAND

REF: A. SECSTATE 32688

B. 04 BANGKOK 6573

C. 04 BANGKOK 1533

D. 03 BANGKOK 7909

E. TD-314/52952-04

F. TD-314/09719-05

G. TD-314/03144-05

H. TD-314/46202-04

Classified By: ECONOMIC COUSELOR M. DELANEY FOR REASONS 1.4 B&D



1. (S) The following responds to reftel A questions regarding
RTG efforts to combat terrorist financing:

(A) The RTG has not seized, frozen or forfeited any assets
under UN Security Council resolutions 1267 or 1373. The Thai
Anti-Money Laundering Act of B.E. 2542 (1999) makes "offenses
related to terrorism" one of eight predicate criminal
offenses and establishes a system for seizure and forfeiture
of such assets. Regulations require all bank transactions
above Bt 2million (US$52,140) or any "suspicious activity" to
be reported to the Anti-money laundering office. This
requirement is being extended to any enterprise that deals in
large volumes of cash.

(B) Thailand has thus far not co-sponsored any designations
of terrorists to the UN 1267 Committee, preferring to act in
unison with other ASEAN countries. This is unlikely to change.

(C) There is excellent cooperation between U.S. and Thai law
enforcement and intelligence agencies and many Thai officials
have received U.S. training. The RTG is amenable to
additional training but has not identified any particular
areas in which they feel they lack capability.

(D)" Medium". While the banking system is now sufficiently
automated so as to track names and patterns of suspicious
activity, there is a high incidence of large cash
transactions in the economy in general. The RTG is aware of
this problem and attempting to deal with it by adjusting
regulations and working with informal money exchanges, gold
and diamond dealers and used car dealers.
BOYCE