Governments around the world are intensifying what US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill called yesterday an "economic war on terrorism."
O'Neill said the US was making inroads in its drive to block funding for suspected violent groups, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, accused by Washington of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks on US landmarks.
"We need all the help we can get to bring to fruition the idea of shutting down financial sources for terrorists beginning with al-Qaeda but not ending there," he told business leaders in New York. "We are seeing signs of success. We are looking for economic cooperation in this economic war against terrorism."
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder urged central bankers and policymakers to pursue co-ordinated action to inflict financial pain on militant groups and those who succor them.
"An international coalition against terrorism does not just work on a political level but must also function on an economic level. Those who support terrorism must feel the negative economic effects," he told parliament during a budget debate.
US President George W. Bush on Monday froze US assets linked to Afghan-based bin Laden, the main suspect for the US suicide-hijack assaults.
He also immobilized the assets of 27 individuals and organizations accused of backing the Saudi-born militant, and threatened that foreign banks that failed to follow suit would themselves have their assets blocked in the US.
Hong Kong is planning to introduce new laws which would allow it to seize any assets in the territory belonging to bin Laden or his associates, Hong Kong radio reported yesterday.
Finance ministers of the G7 industrialized nations -- the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan -- on Tuesday vowed to "pursue a comprehensive strategy to disrupt terrorist funding around the world."
EU members Britain, France and Germany say they have already frozen assets of those on the US blacklist, while non-EU members Switzerland and Lichtenstein have pledged to cooperate with the campaign to block suspect funds.
Germany's Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke advocated relaxing secrecy rules to strengthen the drive to choke the financing of terrorist and criminal groups.
"If investigations are under way into drugs dealing, terrorism or tax avoidance and reach a dead-end due to bank secrecy, then it's difficult for me to understand that," he told the Financial Times in an interview published yesterday.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest, said it had been working with authorities to curb illegal dealings even before the probe into the network that funded the Sept. 11 attacks.
Preliminary estimates show EU banks have frozen close to US$100 million worth of Afghan assets since July, when it called for a seizure of funds linked to bin Laden, an EU source said.
"We have so far only official figures from the United Kingdom, where US$68 million have been frozen. So it is a rough estimate," the source said.
In Bahrain, the Gulf's main banking center, the central bank said yesterday it had asked banks operating there to check if they had any links with groups on the US terrorism blacklist.
Lebanon also vowed to back the crackdown, but said it had yet to receive a specific call for help.
Only three of the 27 individuals and groups on the blacklist have commented, all to deny involvement in terrorism.
Two of the groups are the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir and Al-Rashid Trust, a Pakistan-based charity which says it helps feed more than 300,000 Afghans.
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