Three bank accounts held by three Afghan nationals with names identical to those on a list of people allegedly connected to the Taliban regime have been found at a major Japanese bank, financial industry sources said Saturday.
The discovery was made after the release of a list of about 160 individuals and five firms that have been labeled as "Taliban-related" by the Foreign Ministry after being identified by a U.N. sanctions committee, the sources said.
The bank, which has not been named, has already notified authorities, including the Finance Ministry, which is investigating whether the three people are in fact connected with the Taliban, they said.
If their identities are confirmed, the government will freeze their assets.
All three bank accounts were opened in Japan but contain very little money, the sources said, adding there have been no recent transactions made on the accounts.