DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTIONS

S E C R E T VIENNA 003833 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC KCRM KTFN KNNP EU AU SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTIONS BY TWO AUSTRIAN BANKS REF: STATE 220738 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott F. Kilner. Reasons: 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (SBU) On December 7, Charge was able to reach Chancellery Diplomatic Advisor Hans-Peter Manz by telephone as Manz was about to leave with the Chancellor for Washington. Charge presented the unclassified portions of reftel demarche, and undertook to arrange for the classified portions to reach Manz in Washington. Manz listened attentively to the points, and said he would consider them carefully and inform the Chancellor. ¶2. (S) In the absence of the Finance Minister, EconPolCouns and Econ Unit Chief presented reftel points on December 7 to xxxxx told us that Austrian authorities welcomed our information, and wanted to pursue cases that merited further action. They noted that our list of incidents involved several diverse issues: some were money laundering cases, some involved terrorist financing, and others involved proliferation financing. This involved different enforcement entities and legal frameworks. xxxxx said they would consult with the various Austrian agencies with a stake in these cases. ¶3. (S) Many of the incidents we discussed were well known to Austrian authorities, according to xxxxx, and in some cases had been the subject of thorough investigations. For instance, in the case related to Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich, Austrian authorities had investigated the Austrian head of Raiffeisen Investment AG in Kiev, but were unable to prove that he had knowledge of the illegal transactions. Therefore, Austrian authorities would be "eager" to receive more evidence on this and other cases. The Austrian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU),which resides in the Federal Criminal Office, and the Financial Market Authority (FMA),which oversees the banking sector, would welcome concrete evidence, xxxxx said. ¶4. (S) Some terrorist finance cases concerned entities which are not on the EU or UN lists, and therefore not subject to legal sanctions.xxxxx noted that Austria, the U.S. and Israel had worked for years on the case of the Palestinian Association of Austria (PVOE),but there was insufficient evidence to support listing. The PVOE was now the subject of a pending court case. ¶5. (S)xxxxx said they would review our list of cases with a view toward identifying specific information requests. However, they added that the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) should work closely with the Austrian FIU to identify concerns. This was especially the case regarding questions arising from suspicious transactions. 6, (SBU) Post will continue to pursue this matter with Austrian financial authorities. Kilner