Government hot on Sayyaf money trail

Authorities are hot on the money trail of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group which allegedly received start-up funds from Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, prime suspect for the recent terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.

US President George W. Bush issued an executive order Monday listing the Abu Sayyaf as among 27 individuals and groups linked to terrorism and whose US assets were frozen.

Bush’s order warned institutions abroad that their US assets may be frozen if they do not block monies held by the 27, including the Abu Sayyaf based in the southern Philippines.

"We are doing our own probe and it’s all in the spirit of cooperation," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told AFP, reacting to Bush’s order.

Golez said the Abu Sayyaf – which is holding at least two American hostages in Basilan – had long been in the terror list of the United States and Monday’s order was "something automatic."

Asked how the authorities would track down the funds of the guerrilla group, which allegedly raked in tens of millions of dollars in their hostage-taking spree last year, Golez said: "We are not prepared to comment on this now.

"We have to get to the details," he said.

But a Department of Justice official said yesterday the government cannot freeze the assets of the Abu Sayyaf in the absence of an anti-money laundering law, which Congress is trying to cobble together before Sept. 30.

"We cannot freeze now. We still have the secrecy of bank deposits. How can we freeze? Unless there is a court order, unless there is a case filed in court, only then can we garnish (seize) the ASG’s assets," Undersecretary Jose Calida said.

Calida said that once the law is passed, then there would be "enough provisions ... to combat money laundering by terrorists."

Malacañang was more blunt.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the government would be more than willing to accommodate Bush’s freeze order, the only catch was that they would have to find the money first.

"The government will do all it can to freeze all Abu Sayyaf assets. But one problem, obviously, is we cannot find Abu Sayyaf assets," Tiglao admitted and guffawed at his own statement.

Philippine authorities have said Saudi-born Islamist Bin Laden, who Washington is hunting in Afghanistan over the twin terror attacks against New York and the Pentagon, had trained the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

Intelligence reports say a Muslim foundation called the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) had channeled funds to the Abu Sayyaf and other guerrillas operating in the South in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

The relief organization was linked to a brother-in-law of Bin Laden, Mohammad Jamal Khalifa.

In 1995, a suspect in the World Trade Center bombing, Abdul Hakim Murad, was arrested in the Philippines and extradited to the US. His accomplice Ramzi Yousef was also in the Philippines but was later arrested in Pakistan and convicted for the bombing that left six people dead.

Philippine officials said it would be difficult to ascertain the hidden assets of the Abu Sayyaf, who for years, have kidnapped foreigners and Christians in southern Philippines and held them for ransom.

Parouk Hussin, the presidential advisor for concerns among Filipino Muslims, said Bin Laden’s brother-in-law had operated a "legitimate" organization which poured funds for charity and development in southern Philippines.

"They also set up a school and gave training for Muslims there and I would not be surprised some products who underwent such training may have joined the Abu Sayyaf," Hussin told AFP.

Hussin, who was among negotiators in the hostage crisis last year, said the Abu Sayyaf, which he said comprised about 500 "hardcore" men, had raked in "considerable amount" in ransoms.

The money was used to buy weapons to beef up their firepower.

"Some of the money went to middlemen and the Abu Sayyaf also had to share it with the thousands of armed men who had helped them," he said.

Armed with well-powered boats and weapons, the Abu Sayyaf staged a daring raid on a tourist resort in May and took about 20 hostages, including three Americans – one of whom was reportedly beheaded with several other Filipino victims.

Foreign department spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said any help the Philippines gave to the United States in tracking down the assets of the Abu Sayyaf would be under the auspices of a UN resolution that required international cooperation to combat terrorism.

He said international links with the Abu Sayyaf could have fizzled out after 1995.

"There are those who feel the link is there although it is not as before," he said.

Philippine authorities have started investigating front organizations in the country suspected to be providing financial and logistical support to the Abu Sayyaf.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said the intelligence community has been working to create a complete picture of the Abu Sayyaf, their financial resources, and their links with Bin Laden.

"Those are one of the essential elements of their (intelligence units) operations," Mabanta said.

He said information revealed by ranking Abu Sayyaf leaders – Nadzmie Sabdullah alias Commander Global and Jimmy Theng – captured by the military confirmed reports of links with Bin Laden.

"There is an existing pipeline, financial and material ... but we are uncertain as to the extent of their financial resources," Mabanta said.

A military intelligence report identified at least five non-government organizations suspected to be conduits of foreign funding to the Abu Sayyaf, namely: the Islamic Wisdom Worldwide Mission Inc.; World Alliance of Muslim Youth; Association of Islamic Development; United Overseas Bangsamoro; Darul Hija Foundation; and the aforementioned IIRO.

Meanwhile, in Zamboanga City, military troops geared up for a decisive major battle against the main group of the Abu Sayyaf and rescue the two Americans and 16 Filipino hostages in the jungles of Sampinit in Basilan, officials said.

"Our troops have confined their playground in the middle of the island," Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, AFP Southern Command chief, said, at the same time stressing the prevention of the bandits’ entry in urban centers by establishing a "perimeter belt."

Cimatu’s measure, which would extensively tap paramilitary groups, was in anticipation of the Abu Sayyaf plan to divert the war by staging kidnappings, beheadings, and burning and looting of villages. – Delon Porcalla, Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Roel Pareño