TERRORIST FINANCE: HUMAN APPEAL INTERNATIONAL

S E C R E T ROME 000291 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN STATE FOR EUR/PGI, LONNI REASOR; EB/ESC/TFS,LEANNE CANNON; EB/ESC/TFS, KATHERINE LEAHY; S/CT, PATTY HILL E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2017 TAGS: EFIN KTFN ETTC PREL PTER ECON IT SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE: HUMAN APPEAL INTERNATIONAL (HAI) POST-VETTING REF: STATE 15260 Classified By: DCM ANNA BORG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S/NF) Post convened its bi-weekly law enforcement meeting February 9 to discuss reftel. The following represents both the views of those USG law enforcement agencies at post attending the meeting and the views of ConGen Milan, where one HAI branch is reportedly located. ¶2. (S/NF) To begin, post would like to note that Human Appeal International (HAI) is listed online as having an Italian address at Via Gitto, 6/E, Varedo 20039, telephone: 0362-554589. (Note: This address is in Milan's Consular district.) We do not know what sort of services the Italian branch provides, if any, nor do we have an estimate of HAI's assets. ¶3. (S/NF) The GOI would likely take a neutral view towards HAI activities in Italy, if HAI activities are truly charitable and if HAI has not broken any national or EU laws. ¶4. (S/NF) We cannot judge GOI willingness to use any frozen assets to continue running HAI services until we have instructions to meet with our Italian counterparts to ask them to assess the case and its possible consequences. As for political will, the GOI will strongly consider supporting any U.S. designation, assuming we provide our Italian counterparts with enough intelligence and a solid statement of case well in advance of making a public case for designation at the UN and/or domestically. ¶5. (S/NF) We would like to reiterate Italy's strong cooperation with the U.S. on terrorism finance-related matters. We would also like to underscore the need for information-sharing with Italy in a timely manner to ensure continued cooperation and success at the UN in designating terrorism financiers. SPOGLI