BAHRAIN: TERRORIST LIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 002011 SIPDIS SIPDIS PASS TO EB/ESC/TFS, S/CT FOR GNOVIS AND PHILL, NEA/ARP,IO/PSC FOR JSANDAGE TREASURY FOR DGLASER AND OFAC FOR RWERNER ABU DHABI FOR OFAC/JBEAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2016 TAGS: KTFN EFIN PTER BA CTR ECTRD SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: TERRORIST LIST REF: STATE 193615 Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Per reftel, Bahrain does not maintain a national list of banned terrorist entities. However, Bahrain does endorse the UN terrorism lists and takes action against individuals and organizations identified in applicable UN Security Council resolutions, based on Bahrain's Terrorism Law and Anti-Money Laundering Law. ¶2. (C) Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Advisor Ralph Ricks told EconOff December 6 that as a matter of policy, the GOB generally complies with the UN lists. Within the financial sector, this is accomplished by the issuance of CBB circulars to all licensees whenever a UN list is updated. These circulars direct institutions not to deal with the named persons or entities, and to report to the CBB should they have had any dealings with the named persons or entities in the past. ¶3. (C) Ricks said the Policy Committee for the Prohibition and Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing is in the process of establishing a sub-committee to formalize this process at a national level. The sub-committee will also act as a formal designating body - i.e. an active review and documented decision will be taken to designate names as linked to terrorism, rather than the "quasi-automatic" process currently in place. He said this initiative was responsive to a specific Financial Services Action Plan recommendation. ¶4. (C) The sub-committee will also be empowered to receive formal requests from other governments to designate names that may not be on the UN list, such as U.S. Executive Order 13224 Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions with Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit or Support Terrorism. However, he added that in these cases, supporting evidence will be required. ¶5. (U) Per reftel, the text of this message has been e-mailed to EB/ESC/TFS Leanne Cannon. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ ********************************************* ******** MONROE