Leaders ponder how to curb ISIS funding network

ANTALYA, TURKEY— If you want to stop a terrorist, follow the money.

As world leaders grapple with how to stop terrorism, Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris have put new urgency on stemming the flow of money that funds such terrorist incidents.

“They cannot do what they did in Paris if they had not been adequately funded,” said Domenico Lombardi, director of the global economy program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.

“They were extremely well-trained. They had planned the attacks for a long time. They were part of an extensive network,” Lombardi said here in an interview.

“You cannot have that scale of operations if you don’t have a steady and relatively predictable source of financing,” he said.

Lombardi said great strides have been made on the issue in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States, when the issue of terror financing was “barely on the radar screen.”

“We are on the right track, but clearly what happened in Paris is going to push toward newer, stronger initiatives,” said Lombardi, a former board member of the International Monetary Fund.

He said terrorist groups are finding new ways to move their money and elude controls, forcing financial regulators to improve the exchange of financial data. He said Islamic State, blamed for Friday’s attack in Paris that killed at least 129 people, is “extremely sophisticated.”

“It’s an ongoing process . . . clearly we need co-operation at a much broader level,” Lombardi said.

“To the extent you are able to follow this increasingly sophisticated web of financial transactions, you are then in a better position to curb terrorism financing,” he said.

The issue was on the agenda as leaders gathered for working dinner Sunday on the topics of terrorism and refugees.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, the political body of the European Union, said the G20 is a vital forum to address terrorist financing.

“Terror networks cannot plan or operate without the money that moves through the financial system of many countries,” Tusk said.

“Only if we fully co-operate through on exchange of information about suspicious transactions, will we be able to fully stop these threats effectively,” he told a news conference Sunday.