ARGENTINA: TERRORIST FINANCE DEMARCHES DELIVERED

S E C R E T BUENOS AIRES 001813 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2016 TAGS: EFIN KTFN PTER ETTC PREL AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: TERRORIST FINANCE DEMARCHES DELIVERED REF: A. STATE 121245 ¶B. STATE 110405 Classified By: EconOff Chris Landberg for E.O. 12958 Reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (S) Econoff conveyed the pre-notification demarche on the USG designation to the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee of five Saudi individuals (Ref A) on September 10 to Jose Ignacio Tobella, Acting Director, Office of Terrorism Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tobella reiterated his office's normal procedure for handling U.S. prenotifications: the MFA will hold the information until the U.S. delivers the request to the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee. The MFA then distributes it to the appropriate officials at the Central Bank, SEC, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU),Intelligence Secretariat, and Internal Security Secretariat. The Central Bank subsequently distributes the names of the designated individuals to financial institutions operating in Argentina, and reports any hits back to the MFA. To date, the MFA has not heard of any case of a designated individual or organization with a connection to the Argentine financial system (although there are frequently false hits). ¶2. (C) Econoff also delivered Ref B demarche on the USG domestic designation of the Al-Salah Society. Tobella responded that the MFA would certainly follow the same procedure to disseminate the information to the relevant GoA agencies, but noted that the GoA would not consider it as legally binding, as is the case with the UN 1267 list of entities and individuals. ¶3. (S) Following the procedure outlined in paragraph one, Tobella will distribute Ref A information (which Post provided in Spanish and English),along with Ref B documentation, to the appropriate government offices and will inform Post of any substantive action the GoA takes in the future on either issue. Post will advise Department of any subsequent substantive reaction or GoA actions. WAYNE