DEMARCHE DELIVERED: PROPOSAL TO LIST CHINESE

S E C R E T SAN JOSE 000154

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, S/CT, EEB/ESC/TFS LRECHT, AND
EAP/CM BANDREWS.

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2019
TAGS: EFIN ETRD ETTC PGOV KTFN CS
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: PROPOSAL TO LIST CHINESE
NATIONAL ABDUL HAQ WITH UNSC 1267 COMMITTEE

REF: STATE 15118

Classified By: Political/Economic Counselor David E. Henifin for reason
1.4(d).


1. (S) On March 4, we delivered reftel demarche to Carlos
Cordero in the MFA's Department of Disarmament, Terrorism,
and Organized Crime. Cordero told us that Costa Rica would
support the joint U.S.-Chinese 1267 listing but would be
unlikely to cosponsor the listing because Costa Rica lacked
strong internal procedures to take actions, such as freezing
assets.


2. (SBU) The GOCR's usual procedure with UN-sponsored
listings is to provide the names to Costa Rican banking
oversight agencies and to coordinate with Interpol, though
these procedures should be strengthened given recent GOCR
passage of a terrorism finance bill. (The new bill was
signed by President Arias on March 4, and will take effect as
soon as it has been published in the official gazette.)
Cordero said he would wait to share the information until the
listing was made public.


3. (C) COMMENT: We hope to receive more concrete responses
from the MFA in the future regarding terrorism finance
demarches, at least those that are associated with the UNSC
1267 Committee, with the recent passage of Costa Rica's
terrorism finance law (Law 17009). Practically, this law
strengthens existing legislation on terrorism and contains
specific language on freezing assets. As soon as the this
new anti-terrorism tool takes effect, we will push the GOCR
to use it, and to seize assets when appropriate. END COMMENT.


4. (U) An unofficial translation of Law 17009's relevant
language on terrorism finance follows:

"In case of persons and organizations determined by the
Security Council of the United Nations to be linked to
terrorism, acting in conformity with Chapter VII of the
United Nations Charter, the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU)
shall arrange for the retention and immobilization of funds
and financial products, and the immobilization by registry
annotation of other assets. When, for purposes of
investigation, lists of persons and organizations linked to
terrorism are circulated among the national and international
institutions indicated in Articles 14, 15, and 15b of this
Law (which includes financial and insurance regulators,
financial institutions, as well as the "informal" players
such as pawn shops, casinos, credit card companies, etc.),
such institutions shall have the obligation to review and
report to the FIU of the Costa Rican Drug Institute
(equivalent to the U.S. ONDCP) if the persons and
organizations included on the lists possess resources or
assets in such institutions."
CIANCHETTE