Bali: Australia will strengthen the regulation of stored value cards as part of its crackdown on terrorism funding following revelations jihadists used prepaid money cards in the 2015 Paris attacks.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan told a counter-terrorism financing summit in Bali on Wednesday that this was one of the reforms recommended by a review of Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation.Â
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The terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks, which killed 130 civilians, used prepaid money cards with small amounts on them to fund the carnage.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin reportedly said at the time that this method made it hard to track their spending.
Since 2006, Australia has prosecuted 21 people and convicted seven people for funding terrorism.
About 190 people are currently being investigated for providing support - including funding - to foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq or seeking to travel themselves.
"The overwhelming majority of these are young men and women," Mr Keenan will say.
Counter-terrorism teams in Australia's international airports have also found evidence of significant movements of large sums of cash.
The review also recommended reforms to Australia's ability to track and disrupt the movement of cash across borders that may be used to fund terrorist activities, better sharing of information with the private sector and the regulation of e-currencies such as Bitcoin.
The reforms arising from the review would be progressed in two stages – one in the short term and the second in the longer term.
"Despite our efforts, it is important to reflect that Australia cannot defeat terrorism by itself," Mr Keenan will tell the summit. "We must work closely and in collaboration with regional and global partners to disrupt terrorism financing and combat this threat."
The movement of foreign fighters across the region as they travel to and from the Middle East necessitates joint country responses, even when there is not a common border.
About 110 Australians, almost 600 Indonesians and 70 Malaysians are engaged in the Syria-Iraq conflict or have tried to join groups there. Most are associated with Islamic State.
The world-first regional risk assessment of terrorism financing in South-east Asia, to be released at the Bali summit on Wednesday, identified threats including small groups or individuals self-funding terrorist activities, cash being moved across borders and money funnelled through charities.
"The relatively low costs involved with lone actor and small cell attacks make associated financial transactions difficult to detect," Mr Keenan will say. "Their financial activity may resemble 'legitimate' financial transactions or worse, remain virtually indistinct when self-funded."
This was the case in the Nice attacks on Bastille Day, in which the perpetrator hired a truck to kill dozens of innocent civilians.
"A shared understanding of risk maximises our ability to detect and disrupt key national security and criminal threats," Mr Keenan will say.
The regional risk assessment was developed by Australia's financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, and its Indonesian counterpart PPATK, with support from Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
"Terrorism is a cross-border crime, so there is no way we can handle it alone," PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso told Fairfax Media.
"The weapons are smuggled from the Philippines, the terrorist gurus are from Malaysia such as (Bali bombing masterminds) Dr Azahari (bin Husin) and Noordin M. Top, the radicals go to Syria through Thailand and the money comes from Singapore and Australia. So we think these six countries are a good model for a regional risk assessment."