US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO1603

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 001603 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR: EB/ESC/TFS DAVID NELSON, S/CT TODD KUSHNER, 
IO/PSC JOLEEN SCHWEITZER, EB/EPPD CAROL THOMPSON; TREASURY 
FOR JUAN ZARATE,OFAC ROBERT WERNER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2015 
TAGS: KTFN, KVPR, EFIN, PTER, ETTC, PREL, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC--TERRORISM FINANCE: 2005 UPDATE 
NO. 2 
 
REF: SECSTATE 32688 
 
Classified By: MARY B. MARSHALL for Reasons 1.5 b and d 
 
Responses keyed to reftel paragraph 10: 
 
1. (U) The Dominican Republic has not frozen or seized any 
assets under UNSCR Resolutions 1267 and 1373. 
 
2. (C) The Superintendent of Banks heads the government,s 
efforts to ensure that searches of banks are conducted in a 
timely manner.  However, weak information systems and the 
high degree of corruption in the country give reason to 
believe that exploitable weaknesses exist.  For this reason 
the Embassy will continue to maintain a close working 
relationship with the Dominican Government on the issue of 
combating terrorism finance. 
 
3. (C) In most cases Dominicans are eager recipients of 
training from the United States Government.  NAS, LEGATT, DEA 
and U.S. Treasury work closely and regularly to provide 
training and have recently done so in the areas of financial 
investigations and money laundering.  The Superintendent of 
Banks has installed a new, encrypted e-mail system that will 
provide more efficient and secure communication with banks. 
At the moment, Embassy has no further specific suggestions 
for training. 
 
4. (C) We consider the Dominican Republic to be at low risk 
as a site for fundraising and medium risk for banking 
services related to terrorist finance.  A major banking 
collapse in 2003 highlighted the weakness of banking controls 
here when it nearly destroyed the country,s economy.  An IMF 
Standby approved in January emphasizes banking reforms, 
including the tightening of controls.  Narcotics trafficking 
is a significant and growing problem here.  Associated funds 
are used by traffickers to illegally import weapons under 
cover of legitimate shipments.  Another area of concern is 
legalized gambling.  The Director of Internal Revenue 
recently put aside plans to pursue casinos for non-payment of 
taxes because of the strength of the gambling industry and 
the difficulties of controlling it in the face of ingrained 
corruption throughout Dominican society.  It is conceivable 
that profits from narcotics trafficking or legalized gambling 
could be used for funding terrorism, but so far Embassy has 
seen no credible evidence that this is occurring. 
MARSHALL