Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LONDON3200
2006-05-05 15:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy London
Cable title:
TERRORISM FINANCE: UK POSITION ON MENAFATF BEST
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C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 003200
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS BROWN, EUR/PGI REASOR, EUR/UBI ROY,
S/CT KUSHNER, INL/C/CP PETERS
TREASURY FOR DAS GLASER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016
TAGS: ETTC KTFN PTER PREL EU UK
SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE: UK POSITION ON MENAFATF BEST
PRACTICES PAPER ON CHARITIES
REF: STATE 59414
Classified By: Economic Counselor Sandra Clark for reasons 1.5 (b) and
(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 003200
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS BROWN, EUR/PGI REASOR, EUR/UBI ROY,
S/CT KUSHNER, INL/C/CP PETERS
TREASURY FOR DAS GLASER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016
TAGS: ETTC KTFN PTER PREL EU UK
SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE: UK POSITION ON MENAFATF BEST
PRACTICES PAPER ON CHARITIES
REF: STATE 59414
Classified By: Economic Counselor Sandra Clark for reasons 1.5 (b) and
(d)
1. (C) Summary: The UK fully supports the MENAFATF best
practices paper on charities, and there is no UK policy to
relax the measures set out in the draft version of the paper.
While representatives of the Charity Commission have
discussed the paper with MENAFATF members, they have done so
based on their own experiences as a regulator on what works
and what doesn't. The UK is very pleased with ongoing
cooperation between the Charity Commission and the U.S., and
as such were surprised at the strong tone of our demarche.
End Summary.
2. (C) Embassy delivered reftel demarche to Ben Lyon in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Counterterrorism Policy
Department and Sean Byrne in the Financial Systems and
International Standards Department in Her Majesty's Treasury.
Both stressed that the UK strongly supports MENAFATF's
efforts to develop a best practices paper on charities, and
that the UK has no policy to encourage MENAFATF to relax the
measures set out in its draft paper. They also said that the
Charity Commission takes its policy guidance from HMT.
3. (C) Lyon said that Charity Commission, under funding from
the FCO, is active throughout the Middle East, both
bilaterally with a number of countries and through
multilateral fora such as the World Bank and MENAFATF. Lyon
said he would not be surprised if individual MENAFATF
countries had asked the Charity Commission for their comments
on the draft paper, but he said that the Charity Commission
had not been instructed to actively seek to influence
MENAFATF members. Lyon added that, if asked, the Charity
Commission would have provided advice based on their own
experience as regulators in England and Wales about how the
draft best practices differed from their experience. He
added that they would also likely have pointed out which
areas appeared to be difficult to implement from a
regulator's point of view.
4. (C) Lyon said he doubted that Charity Commission advice
was undermining the hard work which the region is taking on.
He emphasized the importance of allowing MENAFATF members,
based on all the advice they received, make a determination
regarding what they wanted to include in their best practices
paper.
5. (C) Both Lyon and Byrne, noting excellent cooperation
between the Charity Commission and the U.S., expressed
surprise at the strong tone of our demarche, and said that
they thought this issue had been resolved in side discussions
with the U.S. delegation at the Cairo MENAFATF meeting. Both
also stressed that they wanted to defuse this issue as
quickly as possible and to focus on areas where the U.S. and
Charity Commission can work together.
Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm
Tuttle
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS BROWN, EUR/PGI REASOR, EUR/UBI ROY,
S/CT KUSHNER, INL/C/CP PETERS
TREASURY FOR DAS GLASER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016
TAGS: ETTC KTFN PTER PREL EU UK
SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE: UK POSITION ON MENAFATF BEST
PRACTICES PAPER ON CHARITIES
REF: STATE 59414
Classified By: Economic Counselor Sandra Clark for reasons 1.5 (b) and
(d)
1. (C) Summary: The UK fully supports the MENAFATF best
practices paper on charities, and there is no UK policy to
relax the measures set out in the draft version of the paper.
While representatives of the Charity Commission have
discussed the paper with MENAFATF members, they have done so
based on their own experiences as a regulator on what works
and what doesn't. The UK is very pleased with ongoing
cooperation between the Charity Commission and the U.S., and
as such were surprised at the strong tone of our demarche.
End Summary.
2. (C) Embassy delivered reftel demarche to Ben Lyon in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Counterterrorism Policy
Department and Sean Byrne in the Financial Systems and
International Standards Department in Her Majesty's Treasury.
Both stressed that the UK strongly supports MENAFATF's
efforts to develop a best practices paper on charities, and
that the UK has no policy to encourage MENAFATF to relax the
measures set out in its draft paper. They also said that the
Charity Commission takes its policy guidance from HMT.
3. (C) Lyon said that Charity Commission, under funding from
the FCO, is active throughout the Middle East, both
bilaterally with a number of countries and through
multilateral fora such as the World Bank and MENAFATF. Lyon
said he would not be surprised if individual MENAFATF
countries had asked the Charity Commission for their comments
on the draft paper, but he said that the Charity Commission
had not been instructed to actively seek to influence
MENAFATF members. Lyon added that, if asked, the Charity
Commission would have provided advice based on their own
experience as regulators in England and Wales about how the
draft best practices differed from their experience. He
added that they would also likely have pointed out which
areas appeared to be difficult to implement from a
regulator's point of view.
4. (C) Lyon said he doubted that Charity Commission advice
was undermining the hard work which the region is taking on.
He emphasized the importance of allowing MENAFATF members,
based on all the advice they received, make a determination
regarding what they wanted to include in their best practices
paper.
5. (C) Both Lyon and Byrne, noting excellent cooperation
between the Charity Commission and the U.S., expressed
surprise at the strong tone of our demarche, and said that
they thought this issue had been resolved in side discussions
with the U.S. delegation at the Cairo MENAFATF meeting. Both
also stressed that they wanted to defuse this issue as
quickly as possible and to focus on areas where the U.S. and
Charity Commission can work together.
Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm
Tuttle