US embassy cable - 05ATHENS777

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000777 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS EB/ESC/TFS (DAVID NELSON), S/CT (TODD KUSHNER), 
IO/PSC (JOLEEN SCWEITZER), EB/EPPD (CAROL THOMPSON), EUR/SE 
TREASURY PASS JUAN ZARATE, OFAC (ROBERT WERNER) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2115 
TAGS: PREL, KTFN, EFIN, PTER, ETTC, CVIS, GR 
SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE: 2005 UPDATE NO. 2 - GREECE 
 
REF: STATE 32688 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY: ECONCOUNS JSTEPANCHUK; REASONS 1.4 (B,D) 
 
1. (C) According to GoG officials, assets frozen, forfeited 
or seized by the GoG pursuant to UNSCR resolutions 1267 and 
1373 have been insignificant (several thousand dollars). 
 
2.  (C) The Bank of Greece (central bank) and the Ministry of 
Economy and Finance have the legal and administrative 
authority to identify, freeze and seize terrorist assets. 
The Bank of Greece and the Ministry of Economy and Finance 
have circulated to all financial and credit institutions the 
names of individuals and entities that have been included on 
the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee's consolidated list as being 
linked to UBL, members of the al-Qa'ida organization or the 
Taliban, or that the EU has designated under the relevant 
authorities. 
 
3.  (C) The GoG has cooperated closely with us to investigate 
those organizations and individuals the U.S. has designated 
for asset freezing, and the banking system in Greece fulfills 
its obligations under international resolutions.  There are 
no significant impediments to co-sponsoring designations with 
GoG under UNSCR 1267 and 1373.  The establishment of an 
intergovernmental committee to monitor terrorism financing 
following 9/11 has facilitated communications between the 
Bank of Greece and the Economics and Finance Ministry. 
However, designations not subject to UNSCR 1267, 1373 and EU 
regulations require the involvement of the MFA, Justice and 
other ministries as appropriate.  The decision making process 
under such circumstances is cumbersome, and many cases are 
still awaiting resolution through the EU clearinghouse 
process. 
 
4.  (C) We believe GoG would be receptive to accept USG 
training and technical assistance, including an assessment of 
training needs.  The Bank of Greece has been overwhelmed by 
the sheer volume of designations.  Its supervision department 
immediate acts upon our notifications by instructing 
commercial banks and credit institutions to begin a records 
search for accounts identifiable with the designations.  The 
records search is often complicated by the many permutations 
of some Arabic names, as well as the fact that many branch 
banks in the provinces are still not computerized and much of 
the record keeping is still done by hand.  Our contacts in 
the Economic and Finance Ministry believe that seminars on 
terrorism financing involving banking supervision departments 
of the major Greek commercial banks would be a useful form of 
training and technical assistance. 
 
5.  (C) Greece is a low risk country regarding significant 
fund raising or banking services for terrorists.  Greek 
officials have told us that amounts seized to date under 
UNSCR 1273 have been insignificant and Greece has not been 
traditionally a financial safe haven for 
terrorists/organizations affiliated with al-Qa'ida.  The 
bureaucratic obstacles in registering charitable 
organizations (and the fact that all non-profit organizations 
are scrutinized by tax authorities) make it unlikely that 
"hawalas" could operate here undetected. 
Ries