The UK government on Tuesday said it had imposed a full asset freeze on a Lebanese businessman suspected of financing the Hezbollah terror group.
The Treasury action against Nazem Said Ahmad on national security grounds follows similar restrictions imposed in 2019 by the United States.
"All assets and economic resources belonging to Ahmad in the UK have been frozen and no UK person may do business with him or any of the companies he owns or controls," a statement read.
It was the first time domestic counter-terrorism powers were being used to "curtail a suspected international terrorism financing network," the UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said.
London proscribed Hezbollah’s External Security Organization as a terrorist organization in 2001. The ban was extended to all of its military apparatus seven years later.
The Iran-backed Shiite terror group is a key political player in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...According to the Treasury, Ahmad has an extensive art collection in the UK and conducts business with UK-based artists, galleries, and auction houses.
The sanctions mean he will no longer be able to trade in the UK art market and no other dealers will be able to do business with him or his companies. It listed those businesses as including White Starr DMCC, Bexley Way General Trading LLC, Best Diamond House DMCC, Sierra Gem Diamonds Company NV, Park Ventures SAL and the Artual Gallery.
"We will always proactively defend our economy against those who seek to abuse it," Treasury Lords Minister Baroness Penn said in the statement. "The firm action we have taken today will clamp down on those who are funding international terrorism, strengthening the UK’s economic and national security."
The freeze does not change the ownership of the assets and they are not transferred to the government for safekeeping, the ministry stressed.
In December 2019, the US Treasury described Ahmad as "one of Hezbollah’s top donors, generating funds through his longstanding ties to the ’blood diamond’ trade."
US authorities announced action against a network allegedly helping the man avoid sanctions.
Washington meanwhile issued fresh sanctions on Tuesday against an international network of 52 individuals and entities operating out of Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers..., the United Arab Emirates, and Britannia who allegedly supported Ahmad.
The US State Department in 1997 designated Hezbollah -- an Iran-backed Shia movement that is a key political player in Lebanon -- as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and in 2019 said the group had used Ahmad and his companies to launder "substantial amounts of money."
In a statement Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the latest actions are "against a global sanctions evasion network that facilitates the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, art, and luxury goods" for the benefit of Ahmad.
Ahmad's extensive art collection is known to include works by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.
'BLOOD DIAMOND' TRADE
Brian Nelson, the US State Department's top sanctions official, said that "the individuals involved in this network used shell companies and fraudulent schemes to disguise Nazem Said Ahmad's role in financial transactions."
Among the key controllers identified were Ahmad's son Firas and daughter Hind, alongside other relatives and business associates.