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2006-05-02, Legality of US bank data searches probed in Belgiu
Belgium's government said on Monday it was investigating the legality of counter-terrorism searches by U.S. officials of thousands of private records held by Brussels-based international bank cooperative SWIFT.
Belgium's government said on Monday it was investigating the legality of counter-terrorism searches by U.S. officials of thousands of private records held by Brussels-based international bank cooperative SWIFT.

U.S. media reported last week that the U. S Treasury Department had been tapping into records of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications since September 11, 2001 for evidence of potential activity by terrorist groups.

Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx learned of the searches from the media and asked Belgium's national security services and counter-fraud office to produce reports into the matter before the end of the week, a ministry spokeswoman said.

"She wants to know if these actions taken by the U.S. and SWIFT are okay under Belgian law," Annaik De Voghel said, adding security officials would discuss the issue later this week.

The European Commission said it believed it did not have any role to play. "At first sight there is no European legislation covering this type of transfer and (it is) therefore a matter of national law," said Friso Roscam Abbing, a spokesman for Justice and Home Affairs Commission Franco Frattini.

Belgium's central bank distanced itself from the outcry, saying it had a limited role as head of SWIFT's oversight body.

"The monitoring of SWIFT's activities that do not affect financial stability is not a matter for the oversight group and therefore the U.S. Treasury subpoenas of SWIFT were outside the purview of central bank oversight," it said in a statement.

European Parliament lawmakers demanded more information and said the reports, in the wake of allegations of secret U.S. "renditions" of terrorism suspects in Europe, again suggested Washington was going too far in its security policies.

"This could be another case of citizens' privacy being invaded. We are already familiar with the illegal role of the CIA in so-called rendition flights," said Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice-president of the parliament's Socialist group.

"It appears that President (George W.) Bush has crossed the red line, abusing his executive powers as president," said Jean-Marie Cavada, a Liberal member of the parliament who is chairman of the civil liberties committee.

SWIFT is owned and controlled by nearly 8,000 commercial banks in 20 countries. The U.S. Treasury subpoenaed data from it to get information on wire transfers and cash movements into and out of the United States.

Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday defended the program, run in conjunction with the CIA, as a legal and "absolutely essential" weapon in the "war on terror", the New York Times reported.

Written By - Kilburn Drake, New York, NY
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