Accused Group Traded Despite US Terror Fears (+LinksMultiple Govt'Prior Knowledge Threads)

An organisation accused by the US government of financing Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network was able to continue in business for two years after suspicions arose that it was involved in money-laundering activities.

Barakat Boston, part of a Somali-owned money transfer group, was asked to close its account at BankBoston in 1999 as it made frequent payments just below the $10,000 limit that triggers a report to federal authorities under anti-money laundering measures. The bank, now part of FleetBoston, also realised Barakat was not licensed to make money transfers.

But the business was able to reopen within months as Barakat North America, using accounts at Citizens Bank and Key Bank - two other New England banks - as there was no system for banks to communicate with each other on suspicious activity.

Citizens, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, and Key Bank declined to comment on Wednesday.

Barakat's accounts were frozen earlier this month after Paul O'Neill, US Treasury secretary, accused the parent Barakat group of helping Mr bin Laden move money round the world and sharing half its profits with al-Qaeda.

Since September 11, Mr O'Neill has overseen the introduction of a raft of new rules intended to cut off the flow of funds to terrorist groups.

Barakat has denied any connection with terrorism, al-Qaeda or Mr bin Laden. But the weakness of controls over illegal money transfers has allowed Mr bin Laden to move funds freely between countries for more than a decade, according to the second part of the Financial Times investigation into the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Mr bin Laden has been able to move large sums around in cash, transfer money through charities and legitimate businesses and send money across borders using banks and informal payments systems such as Barakat's. Al-Qaeda was able to move the $500,000 needed to finance the September 11 attacks from Germany and the Gulf into the US.

The investigation also reveals the scale of charitable giving in Middle Eastern countries that allows Islamist organisations to siphon large amounts for terrorism. Estimates range from $5bn to $16bn of charitable donations, with Kuwait, the tiny oil-rich gulf kingdom, providing $16m a month alone.

Many legitimate Islamic charities have been used to provide cover for al-Qaeda activities, the FT has found. But Mr bin Laden has also used the international banking system to move money, paying $230,000 for an aircraft in 1993 by sending money through two leading US banks to Texas.

The FT has found that attempts by Mr bin Laden to make money from profitable businesses during his stay in Sudan between 1991 and 1996 came to nothing. He lost all his money in the country as the government failed to pay him for work he did in building roads and other projects.

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They are being made citizens.

Post this one as a thread if you want--please do:

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U.S. offers help to immigrants who aid in war

Attorney General John Ashcroft addresses the press at the Department of Justice.

USA Today

November 29, 2001

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Thursday offered the prospect of American citizenship, including a promise to ignore visa problems, to entice foreigners to come forward with information about terrorists. ''The people who have the courage to make the right choice deserve to be welcomed as guests into our country and perhaps to one day become fellow citizens,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft said. The citizenship-for-information program was the latest appeal by the Justice Department to elicit help from the public in tracking down terrorists. Hundreds of Middle Easterners have been swept up in the terrorism investigation, drawing complaints from civil rights and Muslim-American groups.

The "responsible cooperators program" would defer deportation indefinitely for foreigners with visa problems and would allow outsiders to enter the country and eventually apply for citizenship.

Foreigners must provide "reliable and useful" information that helps investigators track down terrorists or avert an attack, Ashcroft said.

"It does not necessarily have to lead to a conviction, and it doesn't have to be comprehensive," he said. "It might be that it's a missing link in a chain of evidence that allows us to actually do something."

Ashcroft said investigators "have clear evidence" that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'eda network were responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and that al-Qa'eda members are in the United States. "Noncitizens are often ideally situated to observe the early stages of terrorist activity," he said.

The announcement was a switch from the hard line the department has taken since Sept. 11 against immigration violators.

More than 600 men from Arab and Muslim countries are in custody for immigration violations and other non-terrorism allegations, and authorities want to question 5,000 other Middle Eastern men in connection with the investigation.

Investigators have been told to check their immigration status and hold those with problems. Ashcroft said foreigners who report to the FBI or U.S. embassies overseas with information about terrorists will not be questioned about their immigration status.

The new program could provide an incentive to get those in custody to cooperate and to encourage those wanted for voluntary questioning who have immigration problems.

"Some visitors may be hesitant to come forward with their information because of their immigration status," Ashcroft said. "They may rest assured that the United States welcomes any reliable and useful information that they can provide. In return, we will help them make America their home."

A program started after the 1993 World Trade Center attacks offers foreigners a special visa if they provide critical information about terrorists that could endanger their lives. Up to 50 such visas can be offered annually. There's no limit on the number of people who can apply for the new program.

Ashcroft also asked Americans to be on the lookout for Clayton Lee Waagner, a convicted felon who escaped from an Illinois jail last February. The FBI says Waagner has claimed responsibility for sending more than 280 letters to abortion clinics across the United States.

Meanwhile, a federal magistrate in Alexandria, Va., ordered Agus Budiman, 31, held without bail on grounds that prosecutors had shown he had close ties to some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

During a preliminary hearing Thursday on document fraud charges, FBI special agent Jesus Gomez linked Budiman to four of the hijackers, including suspected ringleader Mohammed Atta, and two other people believed to have close ties to the terrorists.

Budiman's defense attorney, Mark Thrash, characterized the government's case as "smoke and mirrors," saying Budiman had only a passing acquaintance with the hijackers through a Hamburg, Germany, mosque. He said there was no evidence that showed Budiman shared the hijackers' views about the United States or knew of their plot.

Gomez testified that Ziad Jarrah, suspected of flying the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, listed Budiman's address on a visa application to get into the United States. He also testified that Ramsi Binalshibh, labeled "the 20th hijacker" by the FBI because agents believe he was supposed to have been aboard the Pennsylvania flight, twice tried unsuccessfully to use Budiman's address to get into the country.

Thrash said the two men used Budiman's address without permission and suggested that an acquaintance of Budiman, Mohammed Bin Nasser Belfas, may have given them the address.

Budiman, a driver for a food delivery service, is charged with helping Belfas, a fellow Indonesian, fraudulently obtain a Virginia ID card. Belfas' whereabouts are unknown.

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Can be found here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/29/govt-help.htm

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