Brussels, 07/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - The United States is desperately hoping that the European Parliament (EP) will, on Thursday 8 July, approve the Swift agreement on banking information transfers since it believes that this is vital to the fight against terrorism. To help bring about its wishes, it has engaged, under the watchful eye of President Barack Obama himself, in intense diplomatic activity and a charm offensive, particularly towards the European Parliament (see EUROPE 10167). If MEPs give their assent, as is expected, the agreement will come into force on 1 August (see EUROPE 10175).
The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP), which uses information from the Swift company, is a particularly useful form of investigation. It allows financial transactions to be monitored and persons to be located without the need for slow, complex investigations which depend to a great extent on the goodwill of states, including tax havens and those complicit in international terrorism. “This is an incredibly important program. There has been too long a security gap at this point, which began on January 1st of this year. As of this date we have not received any data from Europe which we will run against terrorist financing searches. So this is already six months where we do not have current, updated information to assist not only our investigation but investigation of counter-terrorism security officials in the EU and around the world,” a US diplomat regretted. If the Swift agreement is adopted by the EP, the US will also be sent the information that has not been provided over the last six months, Swift having agreed to supply it retrospectively. “What's interesting is how frequently terrorists continue to use banking transfers. There's no substitute sometimes. They use Western Union and banks, even though the TFTP has been all over the newspapers,” he added, going on: “When a terrorist suspect sends money, we know where they send it from and where they were on a specific date. We often get passport or bio-identifying information, or telephone numbers because they attach that to the financial transfer to make sure it gets through”. The TFTP has helped national investigation services in many cases in Europe. In all, since 2002, the TFTP has meant that some 1,550 pieces of terrorism-related information have been passed to EU member states, including on the terrorist outrages in Madrid in 2004, and London in 2005, the murder of Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh in 2004, the failed liquid bomb plot against transatlantic aircraft in 2006, and planned attacks foiled in Germany in 2007. Internationally, the program has assisted in the investigations on the Bali attacks in 2002, the planned attack on JFK airport in 2007, the Mumbai attacks in 2008 and the suicide bombings in Jakarta in July 2009.
Following a rapid request from the EP, the Swift agreement now provides for reviewers, including a European, in US premises to ensure permanent monitoring of the use being made of the database. This point is a key guarantee, especially as reviewers can, in real time, halt any request which does not comply with the terms of the agreement. For the Americans, this is just part of the “difficult concessions” that were necessary for agreement to be reached. “While we understand and sympathise with the desire for greater transparency and greater oversight, that has to be balanced with the sensitivity of the information,” the diplomat said. “I'm sure that this is true across Europe. If the US asks that a US official oversee French counter-terrorism investigations, have access to the files or be able to query searches being done, it's pretty clear what the answer would be,” he said. The data received by the US Treasury will be held in secure premises, the exact location of which is kept secret. Only those who have proper security clearance are allowed access and they need to demonstrate that their investigation could involve financial transfer linked to international terrorism. (B.C./transl.rt)