US embassy cable - 04BRASILIA1524

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 001524 
 
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:  BRAZILIAN MINISTRY 
OF JUSTICE ON BARAKAT 
 
REF: A. STATE 124995 
 
     B. BRASILIA 1490 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Virden, Reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
1. (C) Emboffs made ref A points on Hizballah financier 
Barakat to Brazilian Deputy Justice Minister Barreto in a 
June 21 meeting, following up on previous meetings with the 
Foreign Ministry (ref B).  Barreto said he would like to find 
a way to be helpful on the Barakat case.  Recalling that the 
GoB had investigated Barakat's finances after the Paraguayan 
extradition request, Barreto said they had found nothing 
suspicious in his occasional remittances to Lebanon, which 
were of amounts on the order of $500 to $1000.  Barreto 
agreed to ask COAF, Brazil's financial intelligence unit, to 
conduct a new investigation into Barakat's Brazilian assets, 
looking in particular for suspicious activity since Barakat's 
extradition to Paraguay. 
 
2. (C) Barreto suggested that the quickest and most practical 
avenue to freeze any Barakat assets in Brazil would be for 
Paraguay to make a formal request pursuant to the Mercosul 
legal assistance protocol, based on Barakat's tax evasion 
conviction in Paraguay.  This would allow a Brazilian judge 
to act quickly.  Barreto said the GoB had not to date 
received the sort of specific evidence of Barakat's terrorism 
finance activities that would enable it to bring charges 
against him or to enable a judge to freeze or seize his 
assets.  He pointed out that if the USG were to bring its own 
criminal charges against Barakat for terror finance, the GoB 
could then freeze his assets pursuant to a USG request under 
our MLAT.  Barreto agreed to look into whether Brazilian law 
would allow the GoB to take action based on the general 
exhortation in UNSC 1373 that UN members take action to stop 
the financing of terrorism -- but he reiterated that the GoB 
has no formal evidence indicating Barakat's terrorism links. 
 
3. (C) Comment:  Barreto was forthcoming and disposed to try 
to find a pragmatic way to help.  He repeated the request 
made by the Foreign Ministry (ref A) for specifics on the 
terrorist finance charge and on Barakat assets in Brazil to 
facilitate a GoB investigation. 
 
HRINAK