CBN Alerts Banks of Five Persons Designated as Global Terrorists

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has alerted financial institutions under its regulation to be mindful in dealing with five persons that the United States of America has labelled as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).

It listed the persons to include Mark John Taylor, El Shafee Elsheik, Anjem Choudary, Sami Bouras and Shane Crawford.

The bank stated this in a letter that was signed by its Director, Other Financial Institutions, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, posted on its website yesterday.

It stated: “The CBN is in receipt of a letter dated May 11, 2017, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in reference to a Note Verbale from the Embassy of the United States of America in Abuja informing the Government of Nigeria of the designation of Mark John Taylor, El Shafee Elsheik, Anjem Choudary, Sami Bouras and Shane Crawford as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

“This is for your information and neccesary action. Please be guided accordingly.”

SDGT is a designation authorised under US Executive Order 13224, among other executive orders, and Title 31, Parts 595, 596, and 597 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, among other US laws and regulations. People or entities are designated as SDGT under Executive Order 13224 by the United States Department of State or the US Department of the Treasury.

SDGTs are entities and individuals who the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) finds have committed or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism, or who OFAC finds provide support, services, or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists and terrorist organisations designated under OFAC Counter Terrorism Sanctions programs, as well as such persons’ subsidiaries, front organisations, agents, or associates. They are designated under OFAC’s programmes.

The designation SDGT is one of several types of designations of persons to whom one or more OFAC-administered sanctions apply; these include countryspecific and counter narcotics trafficking, non-proliferation, and transnational criminal organisation-related sanctions, and potentially under sanctions related to illicit trading in rough diamonds, although this had not been applied of early November 2011.

OFAC publishes an integrated list of persons designated under its various sanctions programmes that is known as the ‘Specially Designated Nationals List,’ under which SDGT listings are included. Individuals and companies designated as ‘Specially Designated Nationals’ are known as ‘SDNs.’