US embassy cable - 04ANKARA3624

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003624 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EB/ESC/TFS (GGLASS), S/CT (TNAVRATIL), 
EUR/SE, IO/PHO (APEREZ); TREASURY FOR JZARATE, FINCEN 
(JBREWER AND MJMELANCON), OASIA (ADKINS AND MILLS), OFAC 
(RNEWCOMB); NSC FOR GPETERS, MBRYZA AND TMCKIBBEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2014 
TAGS: EFIN, PTER, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKISH OFFICIALS CRITICIZE FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE 
UNIT 
 
REF: A. STATE 989148 
     B. ANKARA 03234 
 
Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION ROBERT S. DEUTSCH. REASONS: 1.4 
(B), (D) 
 
1.    (C) Summary. Officials at the Turkish National Police 
(TNP) and Ministry of Justice have pointedly criticized 
Turkey,s financial intelligence unit as being uncooperative 
and poorly run. End summary. 
 
---------------- 
Police Official Derides MASAK ... 
---------------- 
 
2.    (U) On 18 June, Econoff met with Emin Arslan, TNP 
Deputy Director General, to share an Executive Summary of the 
FSAT report (Ref A) and solicit his thoughts on the state of 
Turkey,s AML-ATF regime. One week earlier, Ambassador had 
met with Finance Minister Unakitan and the President of 
Turkey,s Financial Intelligence Unit, the Financial Crimes 
Investigation Board (known by its Turkish acronym, MASAK) to 
discuss the Executive Summary, and was told in essence that 
no substantial changes to the AML-ATF regime were required 
(Ref B). 
 
3.    (C) With little prompting, Arslan launched into a 
strong and detailed criticism of Turkey,s AML-ATF regime, 
and of MASAK itself ) repeating, he said, criticisms that he 
has in the past publicly leveled against MASAK. Among the 
points he made are that (a) MASAK has a poor relationship 
with prosecutors and the police, and indeed in its entire 
history has sent but one file to prosecutors, which was 
rejected as insufficiently prepared; (b) MASAK can only 
initiate an investigation with approval from Minister 
Unakitan, which politicizes the process; (c) MASAK personnel 
are not adequately trained in financial analysis; and (d) 
MASAK lacks investigative powers.  As such, Arslan said, 
successful AML-ATF prosecutions are very difficult and rare. 
 
4.    (C) Arslan agreed with Econoff,s suggestion that 
Turkey should take a &task-force8 approach to the problem, 
with police, prosecutors, MASAK, bank inspectors and others 
all working together as a team. He said that Turkey currently 
has a law permitting the formation of task forces (which 
others within TNP have characterized as very successful), but 
that this law is narrowly drawn to apply to organized crime 
cases, and thus of limited utility in AML-ATF cases. Arslan 
said further that, in 2000, a draft law was drawn up by MOI, 
MOJ, law professors and other luminaries, which was intended 
to solve this problem, but that the Ministry of Finance never 
acted on it. Arslan urged Post to distribute the Executive 
Summary widely throughout GOT, in an attempt to gain some 
traction with this issue. Arslan accepted Econoff,s 
invitation to meet with FinCEN representatives during their 
upcoming visit the week of July 12, and suggested that MASAK 
representatives also be invited to participate in the 
meeting. He acknowledged, however, that it is unlikely that 
MASAK would accept the invitation. 
 
---------------- 
... As Does A MOJ Official 
---------------- 
 
5.    (C) On June 22, Econoff met with Judge Abdulkadir Kaya, 
Director General for International Law and Foreign Relations 
at the Ministry of Justice, again to share the Executive 
Summary and solicit his thoughts on the AML-ATF regime. Kaya 
said that new task-force legislation is not necessary, as the 
current AML law is sufficient to permit MASAK to cooperate 
with prosecutors. According to Kaya, the problem is that 
MASAK does not want to cooperate with police and prosecutors, 
preferring to conduct investigations itself -- which, Kaya 
said, is an arrogation of responsibility that is not 
supported by the law, since MASAK's sole duty is to assemble 
and analyze financial data, not conduct investigations. 
According to Kaya, when any evidence of a crime is uncovered, 
MASAK should immediately inform the prosecutors, who will 
then conduct the investigation, assisted by police when 
necessary. Kaya said that the impediment to an effective 
AML-ATF regime exists "in the minds" of the people at MASAK, 
not the law. 
 
---------------- 
Comment 
---------------- 
 
6.    (C) Kaya's disagreement with Arslan over the 
advisability of a "task-force" approach is superficial, since 
Kaya used the term "task-force" as it is defined in the law 
(a court-ordered investigation of a particular criminal 
enterprise), while Arslan used it in an operative sense (a 
team approach to investigation and prosecution). On 
substance, they are in agreement: More interagency 
cooperation is needed. While Arslan and Kaya were unusually 
blunt in their criticisms of MASAK, it is clear from 
conversations with other contacts that their feelings are 
shared by wide segments within TNP, and the Justice and 
Foreign Affairs Ministries -- as well as by officials in the 
British, Canadian and German embassies. 
7.    (C) Post is encouraged by the fact that elements within 
the GOT understand the problem and are attempting to solve 
it. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly obvious 
that improving Turkey's AML-ATF regime is not a priority of 
the Finance Ministry. There may be a benign explanation for 
MOF's seeming indifference. Alternatively, as some Post 
contacts speculate, MOF may be motivated by a desire to limit 
corruption investigations instituted against certain 
government and AK Party officials (including Minister 
Unakitan, for actions taken before joining the government, 
while he was a board member of Al-Baraka bank). (According to 
the president of the Financial Inspection Board -- an 
inspector-general type entity -- a recently enacted law 
curtailing its powers was similarly motivated, although we 
note that the IMF and World Bank supported this new law.) In 
any event, Post intends to maintain the pressure on GOT to 
strengthen its AML-ATF regime (Ref A). 
EDELMAN