US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT498

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000498 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS GGLASS AND NROTHSTEIN 
STATE FOR S/CT FOR SFOX; IO/PHO FOR APEREZ 
NSC FOR GPETERS; TREASURY GENERAL COUNSEL FOR DAUFHAUSER 
TREASURY FOR OFAC DIRECTOR RNEWCOMB; TREASURY FOR JZARATE 
TREASURY TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING 
PARIS FOR PETER KUJAWINSKI AND UZRA ZEYA 
TUNIS FOR NATALIE BROWN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2014 
TAGS: EFIN, ECON, ETTC, PTER, PREL, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) TERRORIST FINANCE: KUWAITIS WAITING FOR LDI 
TRANSACTION INFORMATION 
 
REF: A.) 04 KUWAIT 494 B.) 04 KUWAIT 481 
 
Classified By: CDA Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Econoff met with MP Nasser Al-Sane on 
February 8 to follow up on the Office of Foreign Assets 
Control's (OFAC) January visit to Kuwait.  Al-Sane detailed 
the history of his efforts to get the Kuwaiti charity Lajnat 
Al Da'awa Al-Islamiyah (LDI) de-listed as a United 
Nations-designated terrorist supporting organization and 
asked the Embassy to work within the USG and with the 
Government of France (GOF) to this end.  He reiterated (Ref. 
A) that the GOF told him it would consider de-listing LDI if 
the USG did so first.  Al-Sane said LDI stands by its 
previous claims that no transactions were made from its 
accounts after a Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK)-issued freeze 
order went into effect.  He said he and the LDI look forward 
to clearing up any remaining doubts about said transfers, and 
to this end are waiting for information on the transactions 
promised by OFAC Director Newcomb during their meetings in 
October 2003 and January 2004.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Econoff met with Islamist MP Nasser Al-Sane on 
February 8 to follow-up on issues still pending after OFAC,s 
January 19 meeting with the MP and the leadership of LDI. 
Al-Sane began by recounting in detail his efforts to clear 
LDI of charges it is an organization that supports terrorism 
and thereby get the charity de-listed by the UN.  Al-Sane 
said he visited Paris in early 2003 to discuss the UN listing 
with the GOF (Note: France initiated the UN's listing of LDI. 
 End Note.) and was told that France would consider 
de-listing LDI only if the United States agreed to do so 
first.  Upon return to Kuwait, Al-Sane arranged an August 
trip to the US with the help of Ambassador Jones.  There, he 
met with Afghanistan Coordinator Ambassador William Taylor, 
who he said urged the continued involvement of Kuwaiti 
charities in Afghanistan.  Al-Sane also met with Treasury 
officials, who he said assured him that the USG was not the 
primary obstacle to the de-listing, and with the French, 
Kuwaiti and US missions to the UN.  Al-Sane said the Kuwaiti 
mission to the UN has been attempting to work with its French 
counterpart in the matter, but have so far been unsuccessful. 
 
 
3. (C) During OFAC's first visit to Kuwait, in October 2003, 
Al-Sane said FM Shaykh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah had extracted a 
pledge from OFAC Director Newcomb that the USG would share 
information regarding suspicious charity financing activity 
with the GOK before taking any action.  Al-Sane said he was 
"shocked" when in a subsequent meeting Newcomb presented 
evidence of dubious transactions to LDI -- not the GOK . 
 
4. (C) OFAC had raised the issue of post-freeze transactions 
during both of its 2003 and 2004 visits to Kuwait.  Al-Sane 
maintains that contrary to OFAC claims, no transactions have 
been made to or from LDI's accounts since the Central Bank of 
Kuwait issued a freeze order on its assets after LDI's 
listing by the UN.  He said he and the LDI leadership are 
awaiting specific information on the transactions, as was 
promised by OFAC during both its October 2003 and January 
2004 visits, so that they can clear up any remaining doubts. 
Al-Sane said Newcomb told him this information would be 
available "in 8 weeks, maximum" during their January 2004 
meeting. 
 
5. (C) When asked what would happen if it were concluded that 
LDI did make transactions after the freeze, Al-Sane admitted 
"there would be a case" against them.  Al-Sane asked Econoff 
to work within the USG and with the GOF on getting LDI 
de-listed.  He said that there were numerous legitimate 
charity projects that were halted by the asset freeze, and 
referred to their delays as "humanitarian issues."  Al-Sane 
said the French have continued to tell the Kuwaitis that they 
will consider the issue of delisting only if the USG acts 
first, and French promises to look into the matter (most 
recently French FM de Villepin's promise to the Kuwaiti FM 
during his January visit to Kuwait) have produced no results. 
 
6. (C)  During a 7 February  counterterrorism action group 
(CTAG) meeting hosted by Embassy Kuwait (Ref. B), French 
Ambassador to Kuwait Claude Losguardi raised the issue of 
Lajnat al-Dawa al-Islamiya.  The ambassador said that he had 
met with the head of Consular Affairs at the Kuwaiti Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, whom the ambassador characterized as very 
aggressive in asking the French to delist LDI.  That official 
had claimed the USG was asking LDI to resume activity in 
Afghanistan.  Acting DCM Richard Bell, who was chairing the 
meeting assured the ambassador that the US continued to 
support the designation of LDI. 
 
7. (C) Comment:  It is clear from Al-Sane's approach and 
comments that he is hoping that OFAC will recommend delisting 
LDI as a result of its visits to Kuwait; at the very least, 
he is expecting to receive the transaction information he 
said was promised by Newcomb so that LDI can respond to 
accusations it moved assets after the freeze. 
URBANCIC