Iraq News

ISIL backer, money exchanges blacklisted

The US on Tuesday (December 13th) announced financial sanctions against money exchanges in Iraq and Syria and an individual financier accused of funneling cash to the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), AFP reported.

Iraqi authorities also have moved to freeze assets tied to the individual and two companies accused of moving large volumes of cash to the group, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

"These are the first US actions specifically targeting ISIL-affiliated money services businesses and we will continue to work aggressively to deny ISIL access to the international financial system," said acting Under-Secretary Adam Szubin, the Treasury's top counter-terrorism official.

The sanctioned entities include Selselat al-Thahab Money Exchange Company of Iraq, which allegedly moved ISIL money from last year until at least April.

The company processed money transfers for a known ISIL financier and conducted more than 100 transfers into ISIL territory, the Treasury said.

Sanctions also were imposed on Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi, an alleged senior ISIL financier, and Hanifa Currency Exchange, the company he owned and operated near his home in Albu Kamal, Syria.

Active as recently as May, al-Rawi allegedly used the company solely for ISIL-related transactions and is suspected of facilitating payments to ISIL fighters as well as hosting ISIL leaders at his farm.

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