Clandestine finance news: recommended reading

• It took Kuwait 12 years after 9/11 to outlaw the financing of terrorism. That was still faster than Sweden…  more>>

• A Dubai subsidiary illegally transfers software to Syria, and incurs the second biggest fine in the history of export control… more>>

• Bitcoin‘s sales pitch was based on freedom from regulation. Not so fast, say the feds… more>>

• The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report has closed shop, but don’t despair.  It has launched a new and improved website:  The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch… more>>

 

Black money news: recommended reading

• Jiminy cricket! Our friend El Grillo says a “Stockholm suicide bomber falsely claimed student loans to fund his terrorist activity.”  The latest case of debt financing the jihad… more>>

• The good news is that Indian financial institutions are getting better about filing suspicious transaction reports. The bad news is that it makes it look like India has experienced a 300 percent increase in terrorist financing activity since last year.  Maybe they have… more>>

• Which way is the wind blowing?  Towards Iran.  Just ask Europe about its renewable energy sanctions waiver for Iranian wind power.  Thanks to Willauer Prosky for sending this in… more>>

• International financial watchdog FATF is supposed to counter the financing of terrorism. But lately it seems more focused on getting countries to pass meaningless laws and high-fiving itself… more from Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld>>

• Money Jihad has covered the illicit wildlife trade, particularly in cheetahs by rich Arab buyers. But even we didn’t know how extensive the cheetah market has become in Dubai.  No reporting yet on how the smugglers use the revenues… more>>

PKK terror financier taken into custody

A Kurdish-Swede has been arrested by Spaniards along with 21 other PKK terrorists in Spain and France.  The operatives reportedly imposed a common Marxist guerrilla fundraising technique—a revolutionary tax—on their fellow Kurds to buy weapons for terrorism against Turkey.  From Sweden’s The Local on Feb. 16:

Madrid court remands Swede on terror charges

A 65-year-old Swedish man was on Friday remanded into custody by a Madrid court on suspicion of terror crimes connected to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PPK).

“According to information from the Spanish police, he is suspected of extortion for terrorist purposes,” said Catarina Axelsson at the Foreign Ministry’s press service.

The Swede and five others were arrested in Spain on Tuesday in a series of coordinated raids which also saw 16 arrested in France.

Those detained are all suspected of belonging to the terrorist-classified Kurdish separatist movement PKK. They are suspected of having coerced other Kurds into paying a so-called “revolution tax”.

According to the charges, the collections are intended to have been used to finance the purchase of explosives and weapons for terrorist activities in Turkey.

In the course of the raids, police seized weapons and cash.

According to news agency Europa Press the Madrid court released three of the six arrested in Spain, although they remain under suspicion and are not permitted to leave the country.

The 65-year-old Swede, who is reported to be resident in the south of Sweden, is receiving assistance from the embassy and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The PPK is a Kurdish organization founded in 1984 that fights against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan, as well as for the rights of Kurds in Turkey.

Convicted Muslim sent £6K to attack Stockholm

Nasserdine at trial (middle) and mugshot (right)

An “Algerian” (a Sunni Muslim) has been found guilty of transferring nearly £6 thousand to the suicide bomber who attempted to kill shoppers on a busy street in Sweden.  Nasserdine Menni, the suicide bomber’s benefactor, believed in the money jihad.  The Koran told him to strive with his wealth for the cause of Allah, and he did.  Menni also rewarded the bomber’s widow after the Stockholm attack.

From The Scotsman on July 20:

Algerian guilty of funding terrorism

AN ALGERIAN national has been found guilty of funding terrorism but cleared of conspiracy to murder following a suicide bombing in Stockholm.

Nasserdine Menni was convicted of transferring money to Taimour Abdulwahab, who later blew himself up in the Swedish capital on 11 December 2010.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found a charge that Menni conspired to murder members of the Swedish public not proven.

Menni, whose age is not known, was also convicted of immigration and benefit fraud.

Addressing trial judge Lord Matthews as he left the dock, Menni said: “My Lord, I thank you very much for the justice in Scotland.”

Jurors took just over nine hours to clear Menni of an 
allegation that he conspired with Abdulwahab to further terrorist aims in carrying out the bombing with intent to murder members of the public.

But, following a 12-week trial, he was found guilty of sending a total of £5,725 to a bank account in Abdulwahab’s name in the knowledge that it could be used for terrorism purposes.

Abdulwahab rigged an Audi car with explosives in the hope it would drive people to Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street about 200 yards away, where he was waiting to set off two more devices strapped to his chest and back.

The car bomb never went off but he was unable to detonate the other two explosives as planned.

Menni moved to Glasgow in 2009 after living in Luton, where he is believed to have first met Abdulwahab, for five years.

Terror conspirator rewarded bomber’s widow

Taimour Abdulwahab blew himself up in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2010, injuring two people in the attack.  His widow who lives in Great Britain moved in with a friend shortly after the attack.  While there, she was wired £1,000 by Nasserdine Menni, who had conspired with Abdulwahab to carry out the Stockholm strike.

Her defense?  “It is a cultural thing that when someone passes away, you ask the family if they need anything.”

“Passes away”?  Yeah, like Muhammad Atta and Osama Bin Laden “passed away,” right?

From the Daily Record last month:

Stockholm terror trial: Bomber’s wife had money wired to her, court in Glasgow hears

THE wife of a man who blew himself up in a busy Stockholm street had money wired to her by an accused conspirator to further her husband’s terrorist aims, a court has heard.

Taimour Abdulwahab died in the explosion on December 11 2010 in the Bryggargatan area of the Swedish capital.

Nasserdine Menni, whose age is unknown, is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow charged with conspiring with Abdulwahab and others to further terrorist aims, which included the use of explosive devices in the commission of an act of terrorism directed against members of the Swedish public, with intent to murder them.

Abdulwahab’s wife, Mona Thwany, 29, gave evidence at the trial today and said that in the weeks following her husband’s death, she left the family home in Luton, Bedfordshire, with her three children after it was searched by police.

She stayed with a friend, Hemel Tellis, a 29-year-old science teacher also from Luton, for about two weeks before looking for a new place, Mrs Thwany told the court.

During that time, Menni, who Mrs Thwany said she only knew as Azzedin, sent £1,000 to her through Mrs Tellis’ bank account, she said.

Mrs Thwany told the court she did not know Menni personally but that she had seen him around and had probably heard her husband mention him.

She said: “It is a cultural thing that when someone passes away, you ask the family if they need anything.”

The court heard that Abdulwahab’s parents and sister lived in Sweden.

Mrs Thwany also told the jury that her son had changed his name from Osama but would not say what he had changed it to.

At one point during her evidence, trial Judge Lord Matthews gave Mrs Thwany a warning after she refused to answer certain questions.

As she took to the stand, she told the Advocate Depute Andrew Miller: “I am here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to assist with the case concerning Mr Menni.

“As you know, previously I have had contact with the police, so I am respectfully asking you to ask questions which are relevant to this case please. I wouldn’t want to incriminate myself.”

Lord Matthews said: “It will be for me to judge what questions are and are not relevant, so you just answer them.”

Later in the proceedings, Mrs Thwany refused to say her email address out loud over fears for her privacy, but the judge told her: “Whether you like to or not, you will just have to give us it.”

She eventually wrote the email address down and it was handed around the jury.

Menni is also charged with transferring money to or for the use of Abdulwahab, in the knowledge it would be used for the purposes of terrorism…

Oh, and “Cultural”?  No, it is religious.  It is common for terrorist groups such as Hamas to pay money to the families of suicide bombers.  This case illustrates how it is done privately by individual Islamists as well.  The common root is Islam, not “culture.”

Muslim crook from West coast circumvents Sudan sanctions, absconds to Sweden

Before Pakistan and Afghanistan gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden, Sudan did.  For this and other reasons, Sudan was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. in 1993.  Sanctions have not been lifted since then.  U.S. persons and businesses have been prohibited from doing business with any Sudanese banks controlled or owned by the government.

But for some reason (perhaps to help fund the jihadist Sudanese Popular Defense Forces or the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood), Portland resident Yonas Fikre decided it would be a great idea to wire $75,000 into Sudan.  Fikre attempted to launder the $75,000 by structuring it into smaller amounts via separate transactions that would attract less attention and by funneling it from an Oregon hawala company called Red Sea Finance to a United Arab Emirates bank before final transfer to Sudan.

From Creeping Sharia on May 11:

A Portland man who recently accused the FBI of having him tortured while overseas has been indicted on allegations that he conspired to smuggle money to Sudan, as has a Seattle man alleged to have helped in the effort.

Federal prosecutors contend Portland resident Yonas Fikre conspired with his brother Dawit Woldehawariat, of San Diego, Calif., and Seattle resident Abrehaile Haile to illegally wire $75,000 to United Arab Emirates and Sudan.

The indictment, handed down Tuesday by a federal grand jury in San Diego, alleges Haile, manager at Red Sea Finance, used the money transmitting business to wire the funds. The men are accused of structuring a series of transfers to avoid reporting the full scope of the transaction to financial regulators, as required by federal law.

The allegations came two weeks after Fikre, 33, and Portland attorney Thomas Nelson held a news conference in Sweden – Fikre has been living there since his release from a United Arab Emirates prison – where they alleged Fikre had been tortured by police acting at the behest of the FBI.

Speaking with… the Associated Press, Nelson and Fikre said Fikre was first contacted by FBI agents in April 2009 while he was traveling in Sudan. A native of Eritrea, Fikre lived in Sudan as a youth before moving to Southern California with his family and ultimately settling in Portland.

Firke told The Associated Press the agents questioned him about Portland’s Masjid as-Sabr mosque, a large mosque which has seen several attendees face terrorism-related charges in the past decade.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors claim Fikre contacted his brother on April 13, 2010, and asked that he send money to an account in Dubai. The brother, Woldehawariatm is alleged to have contacted Haile the following day and asked that he wire $75,000 to the account without identifying Woldehawariat or Fikre as the sender.

Prosecutors contend Haile directed Woldehawariat to deposit smaller amounts of money into a Bank of America account he would then use to wire the money to an account in Dubai.

“Firke and Woldehawariat agreed to transfer tens of thousands of dollars from the United States to the United Arab Emirates to have the money available for use in Sudan or elsewhere,” prosecutors contended in the indictment. “Woldehawariat and Fikre wanted to conceal from the United States their connection to the money transfers.”

In the week that followed, Woldehawariat deposited at least $21,000 into the account, according to the indictment. Prosecutors contend the system was meant to avoid federal reporting requirements.

Fikre, Haile and Woldehawariat have been charged with unlawfully structuring a financial transaction and conspiring to do the same. Prosecutors go on to allege Woldehawariat failed to file tax returns in 2009 and 2010.

Haile appeared in U.S. District Court at Seattle on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he is expected to return Monday for arraignment.

Firke is not currently in custody.

Sweden: patron of Israel boycott movement

If you follow the money, Sweden is among the leaders, if not the number one advocate, of boycotting and disinvestment in Israel.

Sweden is a primary funder of the organizations Addameer, Al Mezan, Diakonia, Alternative Information Center (through Diakonia), Defence of Children International – Palestine Section, Sabeel, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, all of which advocate sanctions or boycotts against Israel.

Sweden is also a main donor for NDC, a conglomerate funding mechanism that finances at least eight anti-Israel organizations itself.

Elder of Ziyon has a helpful chart showing the money behind the movement.  His table also shows that a big culprit is the European Union itself, funding at least 13 such groups.

The original research comes from NGO Monitor.

MJ’s international growth

It’s hard to believe that Money Jihad has only been around for three months.  Although this blog is about rather dreary topics of terrorist financing and Islamic taxes, I’ve had a blast, and judging from growing readership here, apparently many of you are enjoying this site as well.  I’m looking forward to continued blogging in throughout 2010.

I’d like to highlight several other websites that have helped spread the word around the world about my blog over the past month.  Please check out the Malaysian human rights/feminist Susan Loone’s blog at sloone.wordpress.com, the Swedish & English language pro-Israel, anti-jihad blog IceViking at icevikings.blogspot.com, Swedish anti-Islamist blog Jihad I Malmö, and although I’ve acknowledged them before, Sharia Finance Watch and fellow WordPress-user Creeping Sharia.  Also, I welcome the readership that has been coming to us lately through folks via LinkedIn.

Thank you, all—the more we can work together to expose the roots of jihadist finance, the better!