Counter‐terrorist finance in the UK : A quantitative and qualitative commentary based on open‐source materials

Purpose – Few articles have been published on counter‐terrorist finance (CTF) policies in the UK and fewer still have attempted to evaluate their effectiveness. This paper seeks to examine both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the UK's CTF policies from open‐source materials and in doing so considers the credibility of many of the claims by those who have attempted to evaluate their effectiveness in light of the data gathered. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an analysis of the UK's CTF regime. Findings – There have been just over 100 convictions under terrorism legislation offence in Great Britain alone since 11 September 2001 resulting in at least ten individuals being convicted of a CTF offence. In terms of assets frozen or seized, Robinson appears to have a point when he argued that: “when you look closely at those frozen assets, you discover that most of them have been unfrozen”, given the tens of millions of pounds returned to the Afghan Government. Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to academics, politicians, practitioners interested in the use of CTF policies.