New Delhi: To safeguard Indian markets from terrorist financing risks, regulator Sebi has issued fresh warnings to stock exchanges and other entities to caution them against Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked organisations and individuals, including India’s most wanted Dawood Ibrahim.
The circular containing ‘United Nations Security Council’s Taliban and Al-Qaeda sanctions list’ have been issued by the Sebi to depositories and the stock exchanges, which in turn have asked other market entities, including brokers, to take note of these updated lists and “ensure compliance with the same”.
When contacted, senior officials and top market executives said that there have been no major instance of any entities linked to these groups trading in the Indian markets in recent past but the regulations and global standards require a constant vigil for such cases. The latest circular in this regard was issued by Sebi to the NSE last week on July 7, wherein it has “informed the exchange about changes that have been made to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda sanctions lists”. Similar circulars have been issued to the BSE, as also to the two depositories NSDL and CDSL. The first list comprise of individuals, entities and undertakings associated with Taliban, while the second list consists of those associated with Al-Qaeda.
Under the Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) obligations, Sebi has directed all registered market entities that “before opening any new account, it will be ensured that the name/s of the proposed customer does not appear in the updated sanctions lists of the UN Security Council.”
“Further, it has been directed that registered intermediaries shall continuously scan all existing accounts to ensure that no account is held by or linked to any of the entities. Full details of accounts bearing resemblance with any of the individuals/entities in the list are required to be intimated to Sebi and the FIU-IND (Financial Intelligence Unit of India),” Sebi said.
