US embassy cable - 03AMMAN8573

UNCLAS AMMAN 008573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
TREASURY FOR ZARATE/WALLWORK/DEMOPULOS 
NSC FOR KIFAYAT 
CPA FOR OLIN WETHINGTON, JOHN VARDAMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN, ETTC, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: RAFIDAIN BANK HELP ON FROZEN ASSETS 
 
REF:  Amman 8205 and previous 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Jordan's Finance Minister confirmed 
that the GOJ would work with Amman-based Rafidain Bank 
employees in assembling basic information about Jordanian 
commercial claims against Iraq, but said bank secrecy 
laws require that he first receive a letter from the 
Iraqi government authorizing Rafidain employees to see 
potentially private information.  Information gathered by 
Rafidain would be used to guide the formation of an Iraqi 
team that would come to Amman to evaluate the claims, 
which the Finance Minister stressed should happen as 
quickly as possible.  The Rafidain branch will require 
active guidance from Baghdad for this process to move 
quickly.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  In a December 29 meeting with ECON/C and 
Rafidain Bank Jordan Manager Mohsen Abed Hassan, 
Jordanian Finance Minister Abu Hammour agreed that 
Rafidain employees could begin working with the Jordanian 
"technical committee" in charge of evaluating claims 
against Iraqi bank assets frozen in Jordan.  Abu Hammour 
said, however, that he had been advised by the Central 
Bank governor that Jordan's bank secrecy laws required 
that he first receive a letter from his Iraqi counterpart 
delegating and authorizing Rafidain to look at the claims 
(some of which contain information regarding private 
accounts at other banks).   Abed Hassan undertook to 
obtain such a letter from the Iraqi Finance Ministry.  In 
the meantime, Abu Hammour arranged for Abed Hassan to 
meet informally with technical committee members from the 
Ministry of Finance and Central Bank. 
 
3.  (SBU) Abu Hammour said that he was under constant 
pressure from both inside and outside the Jordanian 
government to pay out frozen funds to Jordanian 
claimants.  He said the subject was frequently raised in 
Parliament.  Abu Hammour confirmed that he had stopped 
making payments after being informed (after the fact) of 
Planning Minister Awadallah's commitments in Washington 
not to make any more payments until Iraqis were involved 
in the evaluation process.  He regretted the confusion 
caused by Jordanian officials' contradictory statements, 
but attributed them to poor coordination.  Abu Hammour 
said he had since received the Prime Minister's 
concurrence that no Jordanian official other than himself 
would discuss the subject in the future. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Comment:  Given the pressure he is under, Abu 
Hammour said he strongly hoped an Iraqi team could come 
to Amman as soon as possible.  He understood that the 
local Rafidain employees were not empowered to make 
decisions on the claims, but were only gathering 
information to be used by a mission from Iraq that would 
be so empowered.  Abed Hassan will need active guidance 
from superiors in Iraq for the process to move quickly. 
If it does not, we do not exclude the possibility that in 
time the GOJ, succumbing to domestic political pressures, 
could resume payments. 
GNEHM