Britain freezes £61m of suspected terror assets
Britain has frozen £61m of financial assets suspected of belonging to Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
In the latest action since the September 11 terror attacks, assets were frozen in the London branch of a European bank.
Chancellor Gordon Brown is announcing the move in a speech to Labour's annual conference in Brighton.
Senior Treasury sources say that the UK has implemented fully financial sanctions against Osama bin Laden.
They added that the UK's Terrorism Act 2000 implemented the United Nations' convention on suppressing the financing of terrorism.
The UK, they argue, already has one of the most rigorous anti-terrorism regimes in the world, but further measures are being drawn up to strengthen it further.
The new Terrorism Bill will adopt the principles of the Proceeds of Crime Bill so that action can be taken against "clean" money destined for terrorism purposes as well as criminal funds.
The Bill will make provision for the monitoring of bank accounts containing "clean" money which might be used for financing terrorism; impose stricter obligations on banks to report their suspicions; and create powers to freeze accounts from the outset of an investigation.
Britain would also be urging co-ordinated international action against terrorist financing, including ratification of the UN convention on the suppression of such cash flows.
In his speech, Mr Brown is to declare: "Ready access to finance is the lifeblood of modern terrorism. No institution, no bank, no financial house anywhere in the world should be harbouring or processing funds for terrorists."
