2023-12-13 20:44:10
By a stopped as of November 13, 2023, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance blocked, for a period of six months:
“funds and economic resources that belong to, are owned, held or controlled by Mohammed Deif (commander of the Hamas armed militia), as well as funds and economic resources that belong to, are owned, held or controlled by legal entities or any other entity themselves owned or controlled by Mr. Mohammed Deif or knowingly acting on his behalf or on his instructions. »
A decree dated November 30, 2023 adopted similar provisions once morest Yahya Sinouar, the political leader of Hamas in Gaza. Reading these decrees does not fail to surprise: how leaders of the movement at the head of the Gaza Strip were they able to open accounts in France despite the fact that Hamas is registered on the list of terrorist organizations in the European Union (UE) ?
Indeed, a Council Regulation European Union provides for the freezing of all funds and other financial assets belonging to persons, groups and entities listed on the Implementing Regulation No. 2022/147. No funds, no financial assets, nor any economic resources may be made directly or indirectly available to these individuals, groups and entities.
The path of neo-banks
Formally, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations are expressly named in community texts. However, it is not the same for their leaders. The aforementioned decrees would therefore only specify the arsenal of European provisions by naming two of the leaders of Hamas. Who can do more can do less…
As for French banking regulations, the texts would tend to make it practically impossible for a member of a terrorist organization to open a bank account. In practice, a non-EU resident who wishes to open an account in France must physically appear at an agency and present proof of identity and proof of address.
Fred Romero/Flickr, CC BY-SA
The process is obviously far from easy for a person living in hiding. Or it must go through an online bank (and accessible locally). As it stands, neither Gaza nor the Palestinian Authority appear to benefit from access to such online banking services, unlike Jordan and Qatar. It is then perfectly possible to make transfers using these neo-banks. The British banking regulatory authority has also expressly denounced, from April 2022, the bleaching possibilities that these new brands offered.
« Know your client »
As the Palestinian Authority does not have a national currency, it is perfectly possible to transfer euros or dollars there. And as it is one of the rare places in the world where significant money transfers take place in cashthe anti-money laundering rules which structure the international banking system find it difficult to apply.
To always stick to the French banking regulationsanother obstacle arises:
“When a person […] is not able to identify its client or obtain information on the purpose and nature of the business relationship, it does not carry out any transaction, whatever the terms, and does not establish nor pursue any business relationship. When it has not been able to identify its client or obtain information on the purpose and nature of the business relationship and it has nevertheless been established […], she puts an end to it. »
This is the now demanding principle of KYC_, “k_now your client”. In other words, assuming that the account has been opened, it is difficult for the bank to make transfers abroad from the moment when the nature of the operation is linked to the financing of a terrorist activity. Otherwise, she would be exposed to prosecution for complicity in money laundering. Even if the account holder is not expressly prohibited, he cannot necessarily use it. The decrees adopted take this situation into account and therefore seek to prevent, without distinction, the “direct or indirect provision” of funds.
Online prize pools and cryptocurrencies
In his work The primer on terrorist financingSenator Nathalie Goulet identified the different techniques used to collect money in order to finance operations or a terrorist organization, while escaping the wrath of the banking sector regulatory authorities.
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The range is wide and the current conflict confirms that all the techniques identified are used by terrorist organizations. This is the case with cryptocurrencies because of the difficulty for the authorities to control their conversion in legal tender currency. Or the opening of an online fundraiser by an association: the stated objective is laudable – the financing of a hospital in Gaza, for example; however, it is not possible to verify the allocation of all the funds.
Pxhere.com
Another increasingly common situation is the use of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). From 2013, the Council of Europe reported that NGOs might be used to launder money and finance terrorism. Since then, many structures have adopted this institutional format to collect money for terrorist purposes. Wanting to prevent funds from being made available to a terrorist organization or a specific person therefore implies strengthening controls both on certain operations as banal as jackpots and on fundraising structures.
Ambiguity
Finally, but it is not certain that this is the effect sought by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, the publication of the decrees exposes the flaws of the French banking system; where we discover, on this occasion, that the financial control regime implemented in no way prevents a terrorist or a person close to terrorist circles from opening a bank account on French territory.
We do not know if Bercy’s decrees will have a real impact on the finances of the people concerned. The Ministry of the Economy and Finance has also not neither confirmed nor denied whether or not the persons targeted had assets in France and this ambiguity poses a risk to French banks.
On the basis of the Patriot Act, the Americans can perfectly arrogate to themselves the right to initiate proceedings once morest them because of their contributions to the financing of terrorism. In short, in this area, it is particularly difficult and open to criticism to be satisfied with announcement effects.
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