Reply #7: Legality of US bank data searches probed in Belgium

[Judi Lynn]

Legality of US bank data searches probed in Belgium
By Emma Davis
18 minutes ago

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - 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.
(snip)

"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.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/ts_nm/security_swift_belgium_dc