6 February 2009
The Trustees and staff of Interpal would like to thank everyone for their overwhelming support and initiative following the formal notice served to the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) by Lloyds TSB to cease all dealings with Interpal. Earlier statements reported this deadline as being 30 January 2009.
To date, Interpal can report that Lloyds TSB have blocked their clearing services for Interpal however our account with IBB is still open and functioning. We would like to reassure our donors that our aid is being delivered to our areas of operation thanks to our local partners.
Yet these are not ordinary operating procedures and Interpal still faces serious challenges. Indeed, the current actions of the banking sector against charities are affecting the work across the entire Palestinian region.
From a recent statement from Lloyds TSB, is has now been made clear that their actions have been due to the US 2003 designation of Interpal:
“We would like to clarify we have not instructed IBB to close Interpal’s accounts, however we have told them that we are not able to offer clearing services for Interpal…This is because Lloyds TSB, like many other banks, has dealings with the United States, and so we have no option but to comply with US government economic sanctions laws…The US has classified Interpal as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists which means that Lloyds TSB cannot provide any services to Interpal.”
The US designation of Interpal has been public information since 2003 and it is therefore distressing that Lloyds TSB would choose to act upon it now. It is especially upsetting that foreign jurisdiction can hinder the essential work of a legitimate charity, without any due process whatsoever. This is therefore not simply a case of charities working under difficult circumstances but it has now escalated to a serious challenge which the UK government must now address. Without the due legal procedures, the US designation process presents a political blockade to charities working in politically-sensitive areas such as Palestine.
Despite the challenges, we would like to thank our very active supporters for their continuous pressure and reassure our loyal donors that Interpal will continue on, supporting the Palestinian people, especially during this period of unprecedented need.
