The authorities have good means for intervening in terrorists’ funds
Press Releases 60/2009
24 February 2009
Finnish authorities on the whole have good means for freezing terrorists’ funds in Finland, should such funds be found in Finnish financial institutions. There is no immediate need for amendments to legislation. These are the conclusions of the working group appointed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which submitted its report to Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on 24 February.
The working group, which had representatives from many official bodies, spent a year studying the possibility of establishing an administrative system for freezing terrorists’ funds that would be separate from the criminal investigation system. If adopted, the system would support already existing procedures and would reinforce Finland’s implementation of international obligations to combat terrorist financing. An underlying reason for the committee’s appointment is the final evaluation report on Finland adopted by the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the expert body established to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, which noted shortcomings in Finland’s anti-terrorism readiness in this regard. The FATF recommended that Finland should set up a national administrative system for freezing terrorist funds.
The international sanctions on financing terrorism imposed by the UN Security Council are implemented uniformly throughout the EU area to the extent applicable to terrorists operating outside the EU. The funds of persons and bodies not on the terrorists’ list approved by the EU can, if necessary, be frozen in Finland for a fixed period by virtue of the Act on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism. Criminal investigation can, as necessary, be launched within the fixed period specified in this law. In the opinion of the working group, an administrative mechanism for freezing funds would not essentially improve the national preconditions for criminal investigation in preventing and countering the financing of terrorism. Nor does the working group consider an administrative mechanism to be necessary with regard to other countries’ requests for freezing funds.
The working group states, however, that Finland’s system does not comply fully with international obligations in all respects. There is a gap in the implementation of sanctions set by the UN Security Council, especially as concerns so-called EU internal terrorists because, by virtue of the division of competence laid down in the current EU treaty, a Union-wide administrative mechanism for freezing funds cannot be applied to them. Entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty would correct this situation, since the treaty contains an article that creates a uniform legal base for administrative freezing of the funds of all persons and bodies participating in terrorist crimes. The working group proposes that the need for a national administrative freeze procedure be reassessed once the fate of the Lisbon Treaty is known. The working group does not see a need for immediate legislative reform.
Head of Unit Marja Lehto from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs chaired the working group, which had members representing the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Money Laundering Clearing House of Finland operating under the National Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Finnish Security Police, the National Board of Customs and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Additional information: Head of Unit Marja Lehto, tel. +358 9 1605 5726 and Legislative Secretary Anna Sotaniemi, tel. +358 9 1605 5742, Unit for Public International Law