AFP, Amman, 13 Nov 2011 – US Treasury Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser, on a campaign to firm up sanctions against Syria, held talks with Jordanian officials Sunday aimed at closing banking loopholes, the US embassy said.
They discussed ‘possible attempts by the Syrian government to evade US and European Union sanctions through the Jordanian financial sector,’ an embassy statement said.
Glaser was also to meet with Jordanian banking sector executives ‘to underscore the importance of Jordan’s continued efforts to maintain a transparent, sound and well-regulated financial sector,’ it said.
The US and EU have steadily increased sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for its ruthless crackdown on protests that the United Nations says has claimed at least 3,5000 lives since mid-March.
Glaser’s visit to Jordan is the final stop in a trip that included stopovers in Moscow, where he discussed US efforts to combat transnational organised crime, and Beirut, where his talks also focused on Syrian sanctions.
The financial sectors of both Jordan and Lebanon are seen by Washington as a possible avenue for Syria to circumvent international sanctions.
On August 17, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order authorising sanctions against the Syrian regime because of what the White House termed a ‘continuing escalation of violence against the people of Syria.’
The sanctions froze all Syrian government property in the United States and banned US citizens from doing new business with the country, or importing petroleum products.
In Brussels, diplomats have said the EU is readying a freeze on European Investment Bank credits to Syria as it mulls further sanctions on Assad’s regime.
The 27-nation bloc has already slapped seven rounds of sanctions against the Assad regime, including an arms embargo, a ban on imports of Syrian crude oil, and on new investments and credits to the Syrian petrol sector.
It has ordered an assets freeze and travel ban on 56 people allegedly involved in the crackdown and frozen the funds of 19 companies and institutions.