VZCZCXYZ0013
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMD #2381/01 2651229
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221229Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0816

UNCLAS MADRID 002381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER KTFN EFIN KPAO ASEC SP
SUBJECT: EL PAIS ARTICLE CRITICAL OF ASPECTS OF THE FIGHT 
AGAINST TERRORISM FINANCE 
 
¶1. Summary: El Pais, Spain's most influential daily paper, 
and the one most closely aligned with the current Socialist 
government, has run an article called "The list nobody wants 
to be on: The system of rosters featuring details of 
suspected terrorists must be improved, experts believe."  The 
article can be downloaded by accessing the September 5 
edition of El Pais and going to the English edition. 
However, in order to access the article, a subscription is 
required.  Please e-mail SchonanderCE@state.gov to request a 
faxed version of the article if desired.  El Pais is Spain's 
leading daily and is generally pro-government.  The Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs (MFA) counterterrorism coordinator, Angel 
Lossada, is quoted by name and unnamed Economy Ministry 
officials are also quoted.  The newspaper is often used to 
float government opinions.  Our sense, also based on other 
interactions with GOS officials, is that the article captures 
fairly accurately GOS opinions on terrorism finance matters, 
especially designations. End Summary 
 
¶2. The allegations and opinions in the article are linked to 
the case of the Syrian-born but naturalized Spanish citizen, 
Ahmad Mardini.  Mardini has lived in Spain for 36 years.  He 
was arrested in November, 2001, probably because five years 
earlier, he had sold a shop to Osama Darra and Mohammend 
Needl, who have been sentenced by Spain's High Court for 
providing financial assistance to the jihadist cause(s). 
Although Mardini was released after five days and has not 
been prosecuted for any crime by Spanish authorities, he lost 
his job at Coca Cola and was not able to conduct financial 
transactions.  The newspaper reports that Mardini's name 
appears on a "control list" sent to financial institutions by 
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  According to Mardini, 
he has not been able to resume a normal financial life: 
"Whom can I turn to? For months my brother has been sending 
me money from Germany in my wife's name to avoid problems. 
I'm still a terrorist suspect.  Isn't that crazy?" 
 
¶3. The key assertion in the article is: "Almost all of the 
bank accounts seized in Spain since September 11, 2001, held 
by people on the international lists of terrorists drawn up 
by the UN and the European Union, have been seized by 
mistake, according to sources close to the General 
Directorate of the Economy".  El Pais goes on to quote an 
unnamed Ministry of Finance source: "We have to unfreeze the 
vast majority of the frozen accounts.  Either they were 
similar names or cases of two people sharing the same name, 
like that of a person who lived in Seville."  According to El 
Pais, between 2001 and 2006, some Euros 36,000 have been 
frozen involving accounts belonging to 97 people, most of 
them Muslims.  Only Euros 83.75 remains frozen, and most of 
the blocked accounts were empty.  (Note: Spain has frozen 
roughly a half a million dollars worth of suspected terrorist 
assets, but the vast majority of these funds were frozen 
prior to 9/11.)  A Spanish Federation of Savings Banks (CECA) 
source told El Pais: "We have had a lot of incidents because 
the lists are not accurate and contain errors.  There are 
many innocent people whose names coincide with Arabic names 
and terrorists". 
 
¶4. El Pais characterizes the seizure of bank accounts held by 
suspected terrorists as an "Anglo-Saxon tool".  Afterwards, 
the newspaper describes and/or mentions the State 
Department's Specially Designated Global Terrorist list 
(SDGT), the list maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets 
Control (OFAC), a Commerce Department list, a CIA list, a 
list maintained by the Financial Action Task Force on 
non-cooperative countries, the Canada Consolidated List, the 
World Bank Barred Parties list, the Blocked Officials File, a 
UK list and two additional lists used in Europe as a result 
of UN initiatives.  The article notes correctly that an 
individual need not have been convicted of anything in order 
to be designated as a terrorist for asset freezing purposes. 
However, El Pais quoted an unnamed "civil servant" based in 
Brussels (presumably Spanish) as saying: "Spain has been used 
as an example by the staunchest defenders of due processes. 
We only add individuals or groups with a final criminal 
sentence".  Spain's MFA counter-terrorism coordinator Angel 
Lossada appears to support this view.  He is quoted by name 
as saying: "Some countries like the Netherlands, support the 
need to apply this to other kinds of administrative, 
police-related or intelligence decisions.  The advantage is 
the effectiveness in terms of prevention, but with the loss 
of rights." He went on to say: "If the mistakes are not 
corrected, pressure from the financial operators will become 
intense.  The lists must be kept up to date and not be based 
solely on their capacity to freeze funds, but on the 
political value of isolating those who appear on them; that 
terrorists must not be able to move freely around the global 
economic system." 
 
¶5. Comment: We are confident that the Spanish financial 
 
authorities search for assets upon prenotifications and 
notifications.  The fact that 97 people, according to the 
article, have had assets frozen since 9/11 indicates just 
that.  However, our assessment is that Spanish authorities 
would welcome a greater emphasis on operational cooperation. 
Septel provides recommendations on closer cooperation. 
Moreover, it would be helpful to get guidance on how more 
rigorous development of identifying information in U.S. 
designation packages is making the risk of false positives 
much less likely. 
LLORENS