THE TIMES OF INDIA

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2003

Suspected terror assets frozen: Indonesia

REUTERS

JAKARTA: Indonesia has frozen accounts of dozens of suspected Muslim
militants and will comply with a new U.N. request to freeze assets of 20
people thought to be members of the Jemaah Islamiah network, officials said
on Friday.

The U.N. call to all members was requested by the United States, which put
the same 20 names on its own asset freeze list last week. Most are Malaysian
and Indonesian citizens.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Indonesian authorities had
been ordered to investigate those on the list to find out if they had assets
in the country.

"First, they need to detect whether these assets and accounts can be found.
After any discovery, the assets will be immediately frozen," he told a
weekly news conference.

He said there were seven Indonesians on the latest U.N. list.

Jemaah Islamiah is blamed for last year's Bali bombings and an attack on a
luxury Jakarta hotel last month.

Indonesian police said financial authorities had recently identified 43
accounts suspected of terror links that had been frozen.

"We still need to make some checks," national police chief Da'i Bachtiar
said when asked if any of those accounts belonged to individuals on the
latest U.N. list.

"The difficulty that we face is that these accounts have fake addresses and
were made using fake identity cards."

Central bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah told reporters some on the list
may already have had their accounts frozen.

"I think we have (got some of them). I have issued such orders not only to
seven but dozens of accounts," he said.

The U.N. Security Council recently added the 20 names to its list of groups
and individuals whose assets should be frozen due to their suspected ties to
Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. The list now includes 123 people
and 98 organisations.

Among those added to the U.N. list was Indonesian Imam Samudra, found guilty
on Wednesday of plotting the Bali nightclub bombings and sentenced to death
by firing squad.

The list also includes his accomplice Mukhlas, for whom Indonesian
prosecutors have also urged the death penalty.

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