Back
United Nations S/AC.37/2003/(1455)/87
General
Assembly
Distr.: General
Security Council 19 December 2003
Original: English
Security Council Committee established pursuant
to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and
the Taliban and associated individuals and entities
Note
verbale dated
The
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus presents its compliments to
the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to
resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated
individuals and entities, has the honour to submit the report of the Republic of
Cyprus in accordance with paragraph 6 of Security Council resolution 1455 (2003)
and kindly requests the latter’s assistance in duly publishing the said report
as a document of the Committee (see annex).
Annex
to the note verbale dated
Report
in fulfillment of United Nations Security Council resolution 1455 (2003)
I.
Introduction
1. Please
provide a description of activities, if any, by Usama bin Laden, al-Qaida, the
Taliban and their associates in your country, the threat they pose to the
country and the region, as well as likely trends.
The Authorities of Cyprus have
not identified terrorist groups or individuals who are members or associated
with al-Qaida, the Taliban or Usama bin
Laden.
II.
Consolidated list
2.
How has the 1267 Committee’s List been
incorporated within your Iegal system and your administrative structure,
including the financial supervision, police immigration control, customs and
consular authorities?
With a decision of the Council
of Ministers, all Security Council Resolutions, including 1267, are adopted and
binding for all Authorities in
3.
Have
you encountered any problems with implementation with regard to the names and
identifying information as currently included in the List? If so, please
describe these problems.
Yes, both on the part of the
financial agencies and the police, the lack of data on nationality, date and
place of birth and other information on identity makes identification difficult.
4.
Have
your authorities identified inside your territory any designated individuals or
entities?
No.
5.
Please
submit to the Committee, to the extent possible, the names of individuals or
entities associated with Usama bin Laden or members of the Taliban or al-Qaida
that have not been included in the List, unless to do so would compromise
investigations or enforcement actions.
Not
applicable
6.
Have any listed individuals or entities brought a lawsuit or engaged in
legal proceedings against your authorities for inclusion in the List? Please
specify and elaborate, as appropriate.
No.
III.
Financial and economic assets freeze
9.
Please describe briefly:
-The domestic legal
basis to implement the asset freeze required by the resolutions above:
The Ratification Law of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (Law No. 29(III)/2001), which was enacted on 30.11.2001, criminalizes as serious offences the financing of the terrorist acts contained in the International Conventions listed in the Annex to this Convention and provides for serious penalties: 15 years imprisonment and/or a fine of CY Pounds 1 .000.000.
With the provisions of the Ratification Law (Law No. 29(III)/2001), the offences prescribed in the Convention are considered to be predicate offences, for the purposes of the anti-money laundering legislation.
The Cyprus Financial Intelligence Unit — FlU (MOKAS) is vested, with the provisions of the same Law, the powers to analyze suspicious transactions reported by Financial Institutions in relation to financing of terrorism, conduct the necessary investigations and co-operate with its counterparts of other countries as well as with other Law Enforcement Authorities.
Consequently, Banks and other financial institutions are required to report to the appropriate Authority (FIU) their suspicions on transactions, related to the financing of terrorist acts and all relevant provisions on freezing and confiscation orders are applicable in such cases.
Furthermore, following
decisions of the Council of Ministers, with the advice of the Attorney General,
the Central Bank of
10. Please
describe any structures or mechanisms in place within your Government to
identify and investigate Usama bin Laden, al-Qaida or Taliban-related financial
networks, or those who provide support to them or individuals, groups,
undertakings and entities associated with them within your jurisdiction. Please
indicate, as appropriate, how your efforts are coordinated nationally,
regionally and/or internationally.
Each Government Department has
its own role in this area, however, a Coordinating
Body Against Terrorism was set up by a decision of the Council of
Its main task is to
co-ordinate the roles and responsibilities of each Department in the area of
fighting Terrorism and may suggest further measures if deemed necessary.
11. Please
convey the steps banks and/or other financial institutions are required to take
to locate and identify assets attributable to, or for the benefit of, Usama bin
Laden or members of al-Qaida or the Taliban, or associated entities or
individuals. Please describe any “due diligence” or “know your customer”
requirements. Please indicate how these requirements are enforced, including the
names and activities of agencies responsible for oversight.
Banks
and other Financial Institutions are obliged to apply all preventive measures
12. Resolution
1455 (2003) calls on Member States to provide “a comprehensive summary of
frozen assets of listed individuals and entities”. Please provide a list of
the assets that have been frozen in accordance with this resolution. This list
should also include assets frozen pursuant to resolutions l267(1999), 1333
(2001) and 1390 (2002). Please include, to the extent possible, in each listing
the following information:
-
Identification(s) of the person or entities whose assets have been
frozen;
-
A description of the nature of the assets frozen (i.e., bank deposits,
-
The value of assets frozen.
No assets have been
identified, in
13.
Please indicate whether you have released pursuant to resolution 1452
(2002) any funds, financial assets or economic assets that had previously been
frozen as being related to Usama bin Laden or members of al-Qaida or the Taliban
or associated individuals or entities. If so, please provide reasons, amounts
unfrozen or released and dates.
Not applicable.
14.
Pursuant to resolutions 1455 (2003), 1390(2001), 1333 (2000) and 1267
(1999), States are to ensure that no funds, financial assets or economic
resources are made available, directly or indirectly, to listed individuals or
entities or for their benefit, by nationals or by any persons within their
territory. Please indicate the domestic legal basis, including a brief
description of laws, regulations and/or procedures in place in your country to
control the movements of such funds or assets to designate individuals and
entities. This section should-include a description of:
- The
methodology, if any, used to inform banks and other financial
Please
see replies under No. 7 and 9 above.
IV.
Travel ban
15.
Please provide an outline of the legislative and/or administrative measures, if
any, taken to implement the travel ban.
The
Council of Ministers has adopted the measures included in Resolution 1267 and
all other relevant Resolutions, regarding the travel ban with immediate effect.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly forwards any information to all
departments of the government, which are implicated. Please see answer to
question 16 below.
16. Have you included the names of the listed individuals in your national “stop list” or border checkpoint list? Please briefly outline steps taken and any problems encountered
Yes.
The 1267 Committee’s Consolidated List is regularly updated and is immediately
upon receipt forwarded to the Chief of the Police, the Director of the Customs
Department, the Attorney General, the Director of the Central Bank, the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order and the Director
of the Central Intelligence Department, who place the various individuals on the
Stop List at all points of entry into the Republic of Cyprus.
17. How often do you transmit the updated List to
your border control authorities? Do you possess the capability of searching List
data using electronic means at all your entry points?
The
Commander of the Aliens and Immigration Authority is regularly informed about
the inclusion of new persons to the 1267 Committee’s Consolidated List, in
order to update the Stop List.
The
Director of Research and Development Department, the Director of the
18. Have you stopped any
of the listed individuals at any of your border points or while transiting your
territory? If so, please provide additional information, as appropriate.
No
individual on the Stop List has been found to live or transit through
19. Please provide an outline of the measures, if any, taken to
incorporate the List in the reference database of your Consular offices. Have
your visa-issuing authorities identified any visa applicant whose name appears
on the List?
No.
V.
Arms Embargo
20. What measures, if
any do you have in place to prevent the acquisition of conventional arms and
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by Usama Bin Laden, members of al-Qaida
organization and the Taliban and other individuals, groups, undertakings and
entities associated with them? What kind of export control do you have in place
to prevent the above targets from obtaining the items and technology necessary
for weapon development and production?
Import and export controls as
regards prohibitions and restrictions in force, including weapons, have been
enhanced since the terrorist attack of the September 11th, by-
·
strengthening the controls so that all export or
transiting/ transhipped cargo is controlled through the portal monitors.
According to the case, other available equipment can be used. Moreover, through
the scrutiny of relevant documentation lodged to Customs and the use of risk
analysis methods, other suspect goods could be identified and thus to enable us
to prevent the illicit trafficking of weapons that can not be detected by the
portal monitors and other high technology equipment available.
·
strengthening the controls of passengers, their
luggage and personal belongings at the entry/exit points in/out of
On
the basis of WCO Recommendation on mutual administrative assistance and other conventional commitments, any findings that
may be derived either by scrutiny
Instructions were given to the
District Senior Customs Officers to strengthen the controls at the points of
entry/exit (ports, airports and parcel posts), specified as follows:
·
Strengthen the controls on passengers’ luggage
and handbags checking for goods liable in prohibitions or restrictions and any
item that could be dangerous for the safety of the passengers traveling by
airplane.
·
Frequent patrols at the customs areas of the ports
and airports with random checks to the employees and the vehicles used by them.
·
Closer cooperation and coordination between the
Department of Customs & Excise and the other agencies involved m such
controls.
All
Customs officers were informed by circular letters for the necessity to be alert
on
·
Countries subject to embargoes imposed by the
United Nations Security Council.
·
Transits/transhipments or exports of dual-use goods
and other sensitive materials.
Extensive use of the
available equipment for the detection of radioactive materials,the identification of dual use
goods and other concealed materials.
In order to perform a more
efficient control through the portal monitors installed at
Convert the manual existing
system for the recording of the results of all controls
A national Risk Assessment
Document has been updated in order to assist for the proper analysis of the risk
involved in all areas where customs control is exercised, in which a more
specific analysis has been carried out in respect of such items and controls.
Priority of training of
personnel has been given to export control as well as to prohibitions and
restrictions related issues. To this end, twenty Customs Officers have
participated at a transhipment enforcement workshop organized in cooperation
with the USA Government in
Through an electronic system
the Department monitors cash movements of currency in/out of
The Department of Customs and
Excise exchanges information with other law enforcement agencies through
intelligence systems such as:
• C.E.N. System (WCO)
• BALKAN INFO SYSTEM