US embassy cable - 04BRASILIA1490

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 001490 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS - GLASS 
STATE FOR S/CT - NAVRATIL 
TREASURY FOR OFAC - NEWCOMB 
TREASURY FOR ZARATE 
TREASURY FOR FINCEN - SHOWELL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2015 
TAGS: ETTC, EFIN, PTER, PREL, CVIS, XM, BR, LE, LVPR, Terrorist Finance 
SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE - BARAKAT:  BRAZIL TO LOOK FOR 
BARAKAT ASSETS 
 
REF: STATE 124995 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Virden, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) On June 8, Emboff delivered reftel notice of the USG 
intention to freeze Assad Ahmad Barakat's assets to Marcus 
Rector, the acting head of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry's 
Office for the Combat of Illicit International Activities. 
Rector said the GoB would welcome hard evidence of a Barakat 
financial link to terrorism.  He added that, even absent such 
evidence, the GoB would like to be helpful in this case and 
would explore ways that any known Barakat assets in Brazil 
might be frozen based on the Paraguayan tax-evasion charges. 
After consulting with a Ministry of Justice colleague, Rector 
reported that a Brazilian judge could order such a freeze 
should Brazil receive an official (presumably Paraguayan) 
request. 
 
2. (C) In a follow-up meeting June 15 with both Rector and 
his newly-returned Office Director, Marcos Pinta Gama, the 
GoB reps repeated their request for any hard evidence the USG 
could share, both of Barakat's financial links to terrorism 
and of any assets he might have in Brazil.  Pinta Gama stated 
that it would be useful to establish, in the first instance, 
whether any such assets existed.  He suggested that FinCen 
could initiate this process by making a request through its 
direct information-sharing channel with COAF, the Brazilian 
financial intelligence unit.  When pressed, Pinta Gama agreed 
to ask that COAF direct a search for any such assets while 
deferring discussion of what to do with such assets until 
their existence had been established. 
 
3. (C) Comment:  Pinta Gama's agreement to look into any 
assets Barakat may have in Brazil is welcome, though such 
holdings are probably so well disguised that they'll be 
difficult to identify.  We will continue to follow up, 
including next week in a scheduled meeting with the Deputy 
Minister of Justice.  Any further specifics the Department 
can provide about suspected Barakat assets and/or tri-border 
links with terrorist financing would be appreciated. 
 
HRINAK