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Mo. indictment: 5 sent money to Iraq

3/7/2007, 1:35 p.m. ET

By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER
The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Five associates of a Missouri-based Islamic charity were indicted on charges that they illegally sent money to Iraq, the U.S. attorney's office announced Wednesday.

The five men, associated with Columbia-based Islamic American Relief Agency-USA, are charged in a 33-count indictment that alleges they stole government and public money and falsely represented their fundraising goals to the public.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday charging the men with illegally transferring $1.4 million to Iraq from March 1991 to May 2003. Federal agents raided the group's headquarters in 2004 as part of a criminal investigation, and the charity's assets were later frozen.

The charity has denied the allegations that it has financed terrorism and has repeatedly tried to distinguish itself from the Islamic African Relief Agency, a Sudanese group suspected of financing al-Qaida. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled last month that the link was legitimate.

The men indicted were identified as Mubark Hamed, 50, of Columbia, executive director of the agency; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, of Iowa City, Iowa, a former board member; Ahmad Mustafa, 54, of Columbia, a former fundraiser; Khalid Al-Sudanee, 55, of Jordan, the regional director of the group's Middle East office; and Abdel Azim El-Siddiq, 50, Palos Heights, Ill., a former agency vice president.

Three of the five were in custody Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Bradley J. Schlozman said. Mustafa, Hamed and Bagegni were arrested Wednesday. El-Siddiq was expected to be arrested later Wednesday in Illinois. Al-Sudanee was being sought in Jordan.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/war/index.ssf?/base/national-81/117329305325830.xml&storylist=njterror

Jordan: Militants plotted to kill Bush

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A Jordanian military prosecutor on Wednesday revealed a previously unannounced plot by three alleged militants to assassinate President Bush during his last visit to the kingdom.

The military prosecutor has charged the three Jordanians — Nidhal Musleh al-Momani, Sattam al-Zawahrah and Tharwat Daraj — with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and illegal possession of explosives. They also were planning to attack the American and Danish embassies in Amman, the prosecutor alleged.

The three were apparently unaware Denmark has no embassy in Jordan. According to the indictment sheet, they also planned to attack a Jordanian brewery in the northeastern city of Zarqa.

They were arrested on Nov. 28, one day before Bush's arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The prosecutor told the court the defendants were found with homemade bombs made by filling large plastic bottles with gasoline.

According to the prosecutor, the three met in Zarqa in October to plan their attacks. The prosecutor described them as followers of the Takfiri extremist doctrine which regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels.........

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-jordan-plot_N.htm?csp=34

NOTE: The following text is a quote:

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp300.htm

March 7, 2007
HP-300

Treasury Designates Two U.S. Companies Acting as Fronts for Colombia’s North Valle Drug Cartel

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today added two U.S. companies to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) for their ties to Colombia's North Valle drug cartel.

"This is the latest in a series of OFAC actions targeted at the financial underbelly of the North Valle cartel," said Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. "We have designated the cartel's companies in Colombia, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, and today we have frozen the assets of two front companies here in the United States."

These U.S. companies are owned by individuals who act as front persons for North Valle drug cartel leaders Raul Alberto Grajales Lemos (Raul Grajales) and Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla (Beto Renteria). This action is the seventh designation against the financial network of Raul Grajales and Beto Renteria, who have both been indicted on narcotics trafficking charges in the United States.

Today's action named two Florida partnerships, C.W. Salman Partners and Salman Coral Way Partners, as SDNTs. These two partnerships, which were created to hold real estate and other assets in the United States, are owned by previously-named SDNT individuals, Abdala Saieh Jassir, Moises Abdal Saieh Muvdi, and Carlos Ernesto Saieh Jamis. Each of these Colombian individuals has been a front person for Raul Grajales and Beto Renteria for over ten years. Moises Abdal Saieh Muvdi and Carlos Ernesto Saieh Jamis are in the custody of Colombian authorities on money laundering charges.

This action is part of an ongoing interagency effort to implement Executive Order 12978, signed on October 21, 1995, which applies economic sanctions against Colombia's drug cartels. This effort includes the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, State and Homeland Security. This action freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits all transactions between U.S. persons and the designated companies.

A total of 1,365 business and individuals in Aruba, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Spain, Vanuatu, Venezuela, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the United States have been designated as SDNTs pursuant to E.O. 12978. The 529 SDNT businesses include agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, publishing, real estate, retail, service and telecommunication firms. The SDNT list includes 21 kingpins from the Cali, North Valle and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.