British MPs: ’KSA Has to Do More to Prevent Secret Funding of Daesh’
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states should do more to ensure their ruling families are not secretly funding Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the terrorist "ISIS" group], a British parliamentary committee recommended.
In a report on the state of Daesh finances, the foreign affairs select committee stated that the terrorist organization based in Iraq and Syria is increasingly desperate for more money, and is resorting to "gangsterism and protection rackets" disguised as taxation.
It also suggested that Daesh funding declined because of the collapse in the oil price, airstrikes on its key financial experts and a squeeze on its ability to operate inside the formal and informal Iraqi banking system.
But in its most controversial passage, the committee pointed out that the interior ministry of Saudi Arabia only passed laws as late as March 2015 to make it illegal for Saudi residents to provide support to Daesh.
By contrast, the committee pointed out that the UK designated Isis as a distinct terrorist organization in June 2014.
The committee quoted the Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood admitting it was hard to know how the royal families operated in some of the Gulf States.
Discussing the likelihood of donations by members of Sunni royal families, he told the committee: "It is very opaque. When somebody who is close to the top of a royal family is a very rich individual donor ... that is very likely to happen."
The committee recommended the Foreign Office "work with local partners in the region to ensure they have the capacity and resolve to rigorously enforce local laws to prevent the funding of Daesh, so that the group cannot benefit from donations in future".
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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