US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3833

S E C R E T VIENNA 003833 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, MNUC, KCRM, KTFN, KNNP, EU, AU 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTIONS 
BY TWO AUSTRIAN BANKS 
 
REF: STATE 220738 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott F. Kilner.  Reasons:  1.4 (b) an 
d (d). 
 
1.  (SBU) On December 7, Charge was able to reach Chancellery 
Diplomatic Advisor Hans-Peter Manz by telephone as Manz was 
about to leave with the Chancellor for Washington.  Charge 
presented the unclassified portions of reftel demarche, and 
undertook to arrange for the classified portions to reach 
Manz in Washington.  Manz listened attentively to the points, 
and said he would consider them carefully and inform the 
Chancellor. 
 
2.  (S) In the absence of the Finance Minister, EconPolCouns 
and Econ Unit Chief presented reftel points on December 7 to 
Thomas Wieser, Finance Ministry Director General for Economic 
Policy and Financial Markets, and Birgit Ertl, the Finance 
Ministry's money laundering expert in the Finance Ministry's 
Financial Markets Division.  Wieser and Ertl told us that 
Austrian authorities welcomed our information, and wanted to 
pursue cases that merited further action.  They noted that 
our list of incidents involved several diverse issues:  some 
were money laundering cases, some involved terrorist 
financing, and others involved proliferation financing.  This 
involved different enforcement entities and legal frameworks. 
 Wieser and Ertl said they would consult with the various 
Austrian agencies with a stake in these cases. 
 
3.  (S) Many of the incidents we discussed were well known to 
Austrian authorities, according to Wieser and Ertl, and in 
some cases had been the subject of thorough investigations. 
For instance, in the case related to Russian crime boss 
Semyon Mogilevich, Austrian authorities had investigated the 
Austrian head of Raiffeisen Investment AG in Kiev, but were 
unable to prove that he had knowledge of the illegal 
transactions.  Therefore, Austrian authorities would be 
"eager" to receive more evidence on this and other cases. 
The Austrian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which resides 
in the Federal Criminal Office, and the Financial Market 
Authority (FMA), which oversees the banking sector, would 
welcome concrete evidence, Wieser and Ertl said. 
 
4.  (S) Some terrorist finance cases concerned entities which 
are not on the EU or UN lists, and therefore not subject to 
legal sanctions.  Wieser and Ertl noted that Austria, the 
U.S. and Israel had worked for years on the case of the 
Palestinian Association of Austria (PVOE), but there was 
insufficient evidence to support listing.  The PVOE was now 
the subject of a pending court case. 
 
5.  (S) Wieser and Ertl said they would review our list of 
cases with a view toward identifying specific information 
requests.  However, they added that the U.S. Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) should work closely with the 
Austrian FIU to identify concerns.  This was especially the 
case regarding questions arising from suspicious transactions. 
 
6,  (SBU) Post will continue to pursue this matter with 
Austrian financial authorities. 
KILNER