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TURKISH DEALERS HELPING ISIL EARN $1 MILLION PER DAY FROM OIL: US TREASURY
15:12 * 24.10.14
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is earning about
$1 million a day from black market oil sales, the United States has
said, vowing to impose harsh sanctions on the purchasers of the oil,
"including middlemen from Turkey."
"With the important exception of some state-sponsored terrorist
organizations, ISIL is probably the best-funded terrorist organization
we have confronted," David Cohen, U.S. Treasury Department
undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a
speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington
on Oct. 23. "It has amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace."
ISIL is generating tens of millions of dollars a month through
a combination of oil sales, ransom, extortion and other criminal
activities, and support from wealthy donors, said Cohen, laying out
the most comprehensive outline yet of the U.S. financial strategy
against the group.
"It is difficult to get precise revenue estimates ... but we estimate
that beginning in mid-June, ISIL has earned approximately $1 million
a day from oil sales," Cohen said. Other estimates have ranged as
high as $3 million a day.
Middlemen in Turkey
The undersecretary said ISIL was selling oil at substantially
discounted prices to a variety of middlemen, including some from
Turkey, who then transport the oil to be resold. "It also appears
that some of the oil emanating from territory where ISIL operates
has been sold to Kurds in Iraq, and then resold into Turkey," he said.
However, the U.S. official also praised Turkey and the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) for being "committed to preventing
ISIL-derived oil from crossing their borders."
He also said U.S.-led airstrikes on ISIL refineries in Syria were also
working to threaten the group's supply networks, dashing a major blow
its resources.
Cohen acknowledged, however, that ISIL moves oil in illicit networks
outside the formal economy, making it harder to track.
"But at some point, that oil is acquired by someone who operates in
the legitimate economy and who makes use of the financial system. He
has a bank account. His business may be financed, his trucks may be
insured, his facilities may be licensed," he said.
"We not only can cut them off from the U.S. financial system and
freeze their assets, but we can also make it very difficult for them
to find a bank anywhere that will touch their money or process their
transactions," he said.
The Treasury also is going after individuals who donate money to
ISIL and is urging officials in Qatar and Kuwait to do more to target
terror financiers in their countries. A key, he said, is to restrict
the militant group's access to the international financial system.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/10/24/isiloil/
From: A. Papazian
15:12 * 24.10.14
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is earning about
$1 million a day from black market oil sales, the United States has
said, vowing to impose harsh sanctions on the purchasers of the oil,
"including middlemen from Turkey."
"With the important exception of some state-sponsored terrorist
organizations, ISIL is probably the best-funded terrorist organization
we have confronted," David Cohen, U.S. Treasury Department
undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a
speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington
on Oct. 23. "It has amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace."
ISIL is generating tens of millions of dollars a month through
a combination of oil sales, ransom, extortion and other criminal
activities, and support from wealthy donors, said Cohen, laying out
the most comprehensive outline yet of the U.S. financial strategy
against the group.
"It is difficult to get precise revenue estimates ... but we estimate
that beginning in mid-June, ISIL has earned approximately $1 million
a day from oil sales," Cohen said. Other estimates have ranged as
high as $3 million a day.
Middlemen in Turkey
The undersecretary said ISIL was selling oil at substantially
discounted prices to a variety of middlemen, including some from
Turkey, who then transport the oil to be resold. "It also appears
that some of the oil emanating from territory where ISIL operates
has been sold to Kurds in Iraq, and then resold into Turkey," he said.
However, the U.S. official also praised Turkey and the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) for being "committed to preventing
ISIL-derived oil from crossing their borders."
He also said U.S.-led airstrikes on ISIL refineries in Syria were also
working to threaten the group's supply networks, dashing a major blow
its resources.
Cohen acknowledged, however, that ISIL moves oil in illicit networks
outside the formal economy, making it harder to track.
"But at some point, that oil is acquired by someone who operates in
the legitimate economy and who makes use of the financial system. He
has a bank account. His business may be financed, his trucks may be
insured, his facilities may be licensed," he said.
"We not only can cut them off from the U.S. financial system and
freeze their assets, but we can also make it very difficult for them
to find a bank anywhere that will touch their money or process their
transactions," he said.
The Treasury also is going after individuals who donate money to
ISIL and is urging officials in Qatar and Kuwait to do more to target
terror financiers in their countries. A key, he said, is to restrict
the militant group's access to the international financial system.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/10/24/isiloil/
From: A. Papazian