Dallas Morning News Senate Pledges Fight Against Terrorist Money-Laundering By ROBERT DODGE WASHINGTON -- Senators from both sides of the aisle pledged
Wednesday to expedite legislation that would make it difficult
for terrorists to launder money through financial
institutions.
While Senate Banking Committee Chairman Paul Sarbanes,
D-Md., said there are enough money-laundering proposals
available to craft a bipartisan bill, Sen. Phil Gramm,
R-Texas, said he wanted a chance to craft his own version. Mr.
Gramm, the ranking Republican on the committee, wants
assurances that U.S. banks' foreign assets will adequately be
protected. Mr. Sarbanes said the committee will move quickly on the
anti-money-laundering proposal. "It is more urgent now than ever before for us to develop
and put in place ... tools necessary to trace and interdict
the funds on which terrorists like Osama bin Laden rely to pay
for their operations," he said. Renewed congressional interest in money laundering issues
came two days after President Bush ordered U.S. financial
institutions to freeze any assets belonging to groups and
individuals associated with Mr. bin Laden, the prime suspect
in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
A Justice Department official said the administration's
anti-terrorism proposal would contain anti-money-laundering
provisions. But banking committee members from both parties
said they want to work on a proposal of their own. Mr. Gramm said he wants to be the lead sponsor of a
bipartisan proposal and has met with Treasury Secretary Paul
O'Neill to discuss content. And Mr. Gramm warned that he would
oppose any legislation that did not contain sufficient
safeguards for civil liberties. Specifically, Mr. Gramm is concerned with giving the
government the power to seize the foreign financial assets of
U.S. banks. Last year, when Mr. Gramm was chairman of the banking
committee, he killed a proposal that granted such powers. Mr.
Gramm said the bill, while approved by the House, did not give
banks a method to protect their assets or sufficient time to
assert their innocence. "There are some people who believe that the way you deal
with problems is to give government massive unilateral power,"
Mr. Gramm said. "And that just violates the Constitution, for
one thing. And that's not what we need to fight terrorism."
Before assets are seized, Mr. Gramm said, banks should have
a chance to rebut money-laundering allegations. If the case
involves issues of national security, he said, a federal judge
could view the treasury findings in private. "If the secretary of the treasury is going to make a
unilateral decision to force American banks to shut down their
operations in another country, the secretary should be
required to issue findings which are potentially rebuttable in
court," Mr. Gramm said. Sen. John Kerrey, D-Mass, said he agreed with Mr. Gramm
that civil liberties must be protected: "It is time to get
tough – tough but fair." Many of the proposals were originally intended to thwart
money laundering involving drugs, gambling, firearms and other
illicit activities. The terrorist attacks have created a new
sense of urgency. "They cannot exist and survive and flourish if they can't
fund their activities," said Michael Chertoff, an assistant
attorney general. Copyright © 2001. Dallas Morning News . All rights reserved. saved from url: http://www.dallasnews.com/attack_on_america/response/stories/481530_launder_27_nat.html
September 27, 2001
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