ARGENTINA DOES NOT MAINTAIN TERRORIST LISTS

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002730 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS - LEANNE CANNON TREASURY FOR OFAC AND TFFS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTFN PTER ETTC PREL EFIN AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA DOES NOT MAINTAIN TERRORIST LISTS REF: STATE 193615 ¶1. (SBU) The Government of Argentina does not maintain any list of terrorists such as the USG Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) List (reftel). According to Acting Director of the MFA's Counter Terrorism Office, Gustavo Urrutia, the GoA instead relies on the UN 1267 Committee consolidated list of entities and individuals, checking bank, telephone, and immigration records to determine if individuals or groups listed are present or have assets in Argentina. (Note: Urrutia is well aware that the UN 1267 lists only apply to al-Qaida, the Taliban or Usama bin Laden. End Note) The GoA undertakes similar actions in response to USG domestic designations. However, since Argentina has not yet passed counter-terrorism finance legislation (whereas it has ratified the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism),it does not treat the U.S. requests as "official." GoA officials have stated that they will introduce counter-terrorism finance legislation to Congress prior to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary in mid-February, 2007. WAYNE