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E.U. Moves to Widen Freeze on Assets of Terror Suspects
Tuesday, October 02, 2001
(11:44 AM)
The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- AP
The European Union urged all 15 member governments to freeze assets belonging to the 27 individuals and groups President Bush linked to Osama bin Laden when he blocked their finances in the United States.

Many EU nations including Britain, France, Germany, and Luxembourg have already ordered banks to freeze assets of those on the U.S. list, including the holdings of radical Islamic groups active in nations from Algeria to the Philippines.

Based on the Bush list, German authorities said Tuesday they had frozen 214 bank accounts containing more than $3.8 million in their effort to shut down bin Laden's financial network.

Assets belonging to some on the U.S. list, including bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, have been frozen by the EU since July in accordance with U.N. sanctions imposed on Afghanistan.

Tuesday's decision by the European Commission called on EU governments to approve the latest assets freeze by next week. In a statement, the commission said more names may be added to the list.

EU spokesman Gunnar Wiegand said it was difficult to say how much money had already been frozen in Europe, but "as we speak the figures are increasing." He said Britain had informed the EU it had frozen $88 million while France had blocked $2.2 million.
(New Jersey Online News Source)
Copyright 2001 Associated Press.

Dan