InfoBytes Blog
OFAC sanctions Indonesian NGO
On February 3, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224 against a non-governmental organization established by an Indonesia-based designated terrorist group for the purpose of providing financial support to extremists in Syria under the cover of humanitarian aid. According to Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, “[t]he United States is taking this action to expose and disrupt [the terrorist group’s] deceptive efforts to use a purported ‘humanitarian organization’ for illicit purposes as a front for collecting and transferring funds.” Nelson added that “Treasury will continue to work with foreign partners to protect the non-profit sector from abuse by terrorist groups that disguise illicit finance flows as humanitarian activity.” As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned entity subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any dealings involving the property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons, unless exempt or authorized by a general or specific OFAC license. OFAC further warned that the agency “can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”