Monday, December 06, 2010
NY TIMES, WASHINGTON DECEMBER 6th, 2010 — Nine years after the United States vowed to shut down the money pipeline that finances terrorism, senior Obama administration officials say they believe that many millions of dollars are flowing largely unimpeded to extremist groups worldwide, and they have grown frustrated by frequent resistance from allies in the Middle East, according to secret diplomatic dispatches.
The government cables, sent by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and senior State Department officials, catalog a long list of methods that American officials suspect terrorist financiers are using, from a brazen armed bank robbery in Yemen last year to kidnappings for ransom, drug proceeds in Afghanistan and annual religious pilgrimages to Mecca, where millions of riyals or other forms of currency change hands internal State Department cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to several news organizations, offer a pessimistic account, with blunt assessments of the threats to the United States from money flowing to militants affiliated with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups.
“Terrorists avoid money transfer controls by transferring amounts below reporting thresholds and using reliable cash couriers, hawala, and money grams,” a recent cable warned. “Emerging trends include mobile banking, pre-paid cards, trade based money laundering and Internet banking.”
A classified memo sent by Mrs. Clinton last December made it clear that residents of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors, all allies of the United States, are the chief financial supporters of many extremist activities, especially in Iraq. “It has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority,” the cable said, concluding that “donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”
It shouldn’t have needed confirmation, but the latest WikiLeaks release affirmed what astute observers of the Middle East have known for a long time: Saudi Arabia is a most dangerous ally. On the one hand, King Abdullah is reported as having urged America to “cut off the head of the snake,” referring to the radical fundamentalist regime in Iran. On the other hand, another cable states that “Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like al-Qaeda.”
The House of Saud showers money onto radical Muslim clerics, perpetuating a centuries old partnership between the royal family and the fundamentalist followers of Muhammad Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab. The Wahhabis, in turn, use those riches to fund the terrorist organizations that want to destroy Western civilization.
The WikiLeaks documents are filled with government intelligence on possible terrorist-financing plots, like the case of a Somali preacher who was reportedly touring Sweden, Finland and Norway last year to look for money and recruits for the Shabab, a militant group in Somalia, or that of a Pakistani driver caught with about $240,000 worth of Saudi riyals stuffed behind his seat. One memo even reported on a possible plot by the Iranians to launder $5 billion to $10 billion in cash through the UAE Emirates’ banks as part of a broader effort to “stir up trouble” among the Persian Gulf states, though it was not clear how much of the money might be channeled to militants.
One episode that set off particular concern occurred in August 2009 in Yemen, when armed robbers stormed a bank truck on a busy downtown street in Aden during daylight hours and stole 100 million Yemeni riyals, or about $500,000. American diplomats said the sophistication of the robbery and other indicators had all the markings of a Qaeda mission. “This bold, unusual operation” could provide Al Qaeda “with a substantial financing infusion at a time when it is thought to be short of cash,” a dispatch summarizing the episode said.
One episode that set off particular concern occurred in August 2009 in Yemen, when armed robbers stormed a bank truck on a busy downtown street in Aden during daylight hours and stole 100 million Yemeni riyals, or about $500,000. American diplomats said the sophistication of the robbery and other indicators had all the markings of a Qaeda mission. “This bold, unusual operation” could provide Al Qaeda “with a substantial financing infusion at a time when it is thought to be short of cash,” a dispatch summarizing the episode said.
Money laundering has for many years been a component of Dubai’s informal economy, but this is more a byproduct of Dubai being the region’s most laissez-faire free port. Dubai alone is home to 16 free trade zones offering tax exemptions, loose regulation and the possibility of 100 percent foreign ownership of businesses, he noted, while other member states of the United Arab Emirates are home to another 18, with more in preparation.
Dubai is also sensitive to accusations of money laundering, because it is still viewed with suspicion by the United States and other Western powers for its role as a staging point for money wired to hijackers in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. According to a recent report published by the FATF, free trade zones may not be keeping up-to-date with anti-money laundering standards. These zones, which require less stringent inspection of goods and are subject to less thorough record keeping obligations than standard ports, are described as posing “huge vulnerabilities”.
The free trade zones are used by organized crime organizations in China, Russia and Bahrain. According to FATF, goods that are often exploited by the lax safeguards surrounding free trade zone tend to be items that are easy to repackage or reship, such as cigarettes, alcohol and luxury automobiles and trucks. Free trade zones are often vulnerable to trade-based money laundering techniques such as under-and over-pricing goods.
According to Rick Dubin, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, stolen cars in Canada may be financing terrorist groups abroad. Investigators have reportedly traced vehicles stolen in Canada to destinations such as Nigeria, Lebanon and Eastern Europe. According to the Bureau, high-end vehicles are the ones most targeted for theft in Canada. Dubin claims that these vehicles, although harder to steal, bring in a “strong profit”, either through the sale of the car parts or through the sale of the vehicle itself.
To conceal the original source of the car, crime groups may change its vehicle identification number. In a list of the top ten most frequently stolen cars in 2009, the Bureau included four models of the Cadillac Escalade SUV, and models from the Hummer, Audi and Mitsubishi brands. Similarly, the Toronto Star reported in December 2009 that auto theft, especially stolen luxury vehicles, are being shipped to and sold in the Middle East, (Dubai UAE), Africa, and Eastern Europe. In some cases, the sales of stolen luxury vehicles generate funds for gangs or terrorist groups, such as Hizballah. In addition, FBI findings indicate that some vehicles stolen from the U.S. were later used in car-bomb attacks in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden’s use of “the Golden Chain,” an informal financial network of prominent Saudi and Gulf individuals originally established to support the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance movement in the 1980s. U.S. officials state that this network collected funds and funneled it to Arab fighters in Afghanistan, and later to Al Qaeda, using charities and other non-governmental organizations. U.S. officials learned that Saudi government actions in the early 1990s had in effect divested bin Laden of his share of the bin Laden family fortune, leading Al Qaeda to rely thereafter on a “a core group of financial facilitators” based in the Persian Gulf “and particularly in Saudi Arabia” for funding.
AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ IS FINANCED FROM PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS IN SAUDI ARABIA AND THE GULF STATES INCLUDING DUBAI UAE. AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ FINANCED BY “CAR DEALERS” IN SAUDI ARABIA. The U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents (Al-Qaeda). Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from (Jeddah) Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.
GOLDEN CHAIN LIST OF TERRORIST FINANCIER’S IN SAUDI ARABIA;
1). ABDEL RAHMAN HASSAN SHARBATLY, CEO SAMACO GROUPS and SAMACO AUTOMOTIVE Jeddah SA, exclusive car dealer for AUDI, FERRARI, PORSCHE and VOLKSWAGEN autos. Founder and Board of Directors Riyad Bank Jeddah SA, 7th largest Saudi company and 2nd largest Saudi commercial bank.
2). MOHAMED YOUSEF AL-NAGHI, Al Naghi Brothers Co., Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors, exclusive BMW importer and Rolls Royce in the Kingdom, Jeddah Saudi Arabia.
2). MOHAMED YOUSEF AL-NAGHI, Al Naghi Brothers Co., Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors, exclusive BMW importer and Rolls Royce in the Kingdom, Jeddah Saudi Arabia.
3). ABDEL QADER BAKRI (ABDULKADER [AL] BAKRI) CEO, Al Bakri International Power Co. Ltd (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), CEO-Al-Bakri Shipping Group (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), CEO-Alkhomasia Shipping and Maintenance Company Ltd (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
4). SALEH KAMEL (SALEH ABDULLAH KAMEL) CEO, Dallah Al Baraka (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) -3rd largest Saudi company Chairman Arab Radio & Television (ART). Partner in Tamlik Company Ltd (with Mohamed Bin-laden, Saleh Bin-Laden).
5). Saleh al-Din Abdel Jawad….(Sallahuddin Abduljawad, etc.). Affiliations include: CEO, General Machinery Agencies (Jeddah). Agent for General Motors, Wacker Corp, Mannesmann, Renault and Opel Car Dealerships. Board member, United Gulf Industries Corp, Manama, Bahrain (with Khalil Bin Laden).
6). Mohammed al-Issai (al-Issaie, etc.). Affiliations: Board member, Saudi Research & Marketing Company (with Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi, Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Abdullah Bin Khalid Bin Mahfouz, Dallah Albaraka Group) – 20th largest Saudi company CEO, Al Issai Trade Company (Daimler-Chrysler Automobile representative), Deputy Chairman, Arab Cement Company (shareholders include Saudi Binladin Group).
7). ABDUL QADIR FAKIEH (aka ABDEL FAQIH and ABDEL QADER FAQEEH), his photo above.. Board member–Ibn Baz Foundation, Chairman-Bank Al Jazira Jeddah SA, prior Mayor of Jeddah from March 2005 to August 2010, Chairman & CEO of the SAVOLA Group of Companies in Jeddah. Jeddah SA August 8th, 2010…. King Abdullah Bin-Abdulaziz, issued a royal decree this week appointing Engineer Adel Bin-Muhammad Bin Abdul-Qadir Fakieh as Minister of Labor, after he was relieved of his post as Mayor of Jeddah.
AL-QAEDA USED CAR DEALER JEDDAH-MEDINA WAS SALEH AL-OUFI (aka SALEH AL-AUFI now dead), HEAD OF AL-QAEDA IN SAUDI ARABIA. AL-OUFI HAD BEEN A USED CAR DEALER IN THE JEDDAH/MADINAH AREA SINCE 1994. AL-OUFI MET WITH BIN-LADEN BEFORE 9/11, HE ALSO SENT SUICIDE CAR BOMBERS TO ABU AL-ZARQAWI IN SOUTHERN IRAQ.
AL-QAEDA USED CAR DEALER JEDDAH-MEDINA WAS SALEH AL-OUFI (aka SALEH AL-AUFI now dead), HEAD OF AL-QAEDA IN SAUDI ARABIA. AL-OUFI HAD BEEN A USED CAR DEALER IN THE JEDDAH/MADINAH AREA SINCE 1994. AL-OUFI MET WITH BIN-LADEN BEFORE 9/11, HE ALSO SENT SUICIDE CAR BOMBERS TO ABU AL-ZARQAWI IN SOUTHERN IRAQ.
Bill Warner Private Investigator, SEX, CRIME, CHEATERS & TERRORISM
