Terror funds: Govt freezes accounts of over 3 dozen suspects

Move follows charges of terrorist financing and money laundering of illicit funds

India has frozen assets worth Euro 300,000 (over Rs 2.12 core) of over three dozen entities on charges of terrorist financing and money laundering of illicit funds, a latest report by global anti-financial terror body FATF has said.

The body has conducted a mid-session review of various countries and economic powers of the world in the wake of the increased activities of dreaded terrorist group, ISIS, around the globe.

The banned group has also been held responsible for the recent terror attacks in Paris which killed 129 people.

As part of India's initiative against suspect funds and those related to terrorism, the FATF report said the country has frozen assets to the tune of Euro 300,000 belonging to 37 entities till August 15 this year.

India is a full-member of this reputed global body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), along with other nations like the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

"In light of the growing threat of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and other terrorist groups, the FATF has taken a renewed focus on the global threat of terrorist financing and terrorism and conducted a fact-finding initiative to determine whether all jurisdictions in the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing network have implemented key measures to cut off terrorism-related financial flows, in accordance with the FATF recommendations.

"This report sets out the results of that exercise," a report prepared in this regard for the perusal by G20 leaders said.

The G20 nations, including India being represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Turkey's Antayla, last week had resolved to seek urgent and united global efforts to combat terrorism as the gruesome Paris attacks, war in Syria and the fight against Islamic State militants overshadowed the deliberations at the Summit.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 and it is mandated to set global protocols and standards to combat money laundering and other financial crimes with direct ramifications to terrorist acts across the globe.