Osama’s last bequest: $29m for jihad

Authorities have released Osama bin Laden’s last will and testament. It was taken from his hideout in Pakistan. It is interesting that he intended to leave most of his money to family members with the assumption that they would carry out his work. We had been told elsewhere by defenders of Saudi Arabia that the Bin Laden family construction company and the Bin Laden relatives have nothing to do with Osama. Perhaps not.  Remember that Osama’s sister-in-law, Carmen bin Laden, once said, “Bin Ladens never disowned Osama; in this family, a brother remains a brother, no matter what he has done.”

The other interesting point is that this serves as further evidence that Osama bin Laden did not exhaust his personal wealth for Al Qaeda operations. He used other people’s money for that. Neither the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks nor the Afghan mujahideen’s fight against the Soviets were funded from bin Laden’s private accounts, contrary to the public image he liked to present.

…I, Usama Bin Muhammad ‘Awadh Bin ‘Abud Bin Laden, have signed below. In regard to the money that is in Sudan, it is about 29 million dollars. According to the mediator, I have received one-million one-hundred thousand in Sudan, eight-hundred thousand in Jalalabad, and then about one-million two-hundred fifty-thousand in Qandahar. I received twelve million dollars from my brother Abu Bakir Muhammad Bin [Laden] on behalf of Bin Laden Company for Investment in Sudan. I hope, for my brothers, sisters, and maternal aunts, to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on Jihad, for the sake of Allah. Also, I need you to take 1% from the total and give it to Shaykh Abu Hafs al-Mauritani. By the way, he has already received 20,000-30,000 dollars from it, he said. I promised him that I would reward him if he took it out of the Sudani Government…

 

 

Who finances Hamas’s rockets?

Short answer: Iran.

Iran manufactures missiles, loads them up at its Bandar Abbas port, ships them to Sudan, where they are transported by ground to the Sinai for final transfer through smuggling tunnels to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Smuggling was rampant particularly when the Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egypt under Muhammad Morsi, making a significant contribution to Hamas’s 10,000 missile stockpile. “Under Morsi it was almost a highway,” said one observer.

Shorter-range missiles are built in Gaza itself. Technical expertise lent by Iran is helping develop Hamas’s homegrown rocket program, although even as recently as two years ago one analyst observed that Hamas lacks the capacity within Gaza to build a banana plantation, much less a missile factory.

Some missiles, such as the M-302, are manufactured by Syria “under license” from China, which designed it. Assad would not be able to produce these weapons or remain in power without Iranian backing in the first place.

Sudanese families finance poaching syndicates

Families from Darfur are behind the financing of company-sized cavalry elements that are poaching elephants in central Africa according to an International Crisis Group report. The elephant ivory and rhino horn are purchased mostly by the Chinese, but in some cases by the Lebanese. Previous reporting has indicated that the perpetrators of genocide in Darfur include state-backed Islamist militiamen who profit from the illegal ivory trade.

And Sudan has the nerve to question why they are still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism?

From Radio Tamajuz (h/t @APIGSA):

Sudan key route for ivory from Central Africa: report

KHARTOUM (19 Jun.)

Darfur, the southwestern region of Sudan, has become a key route for smuggling of ivory from the Central African Republic to international black markets. Not only the traders but also many of the hunters themselves are reported to be Sudanese.

The International Crisis Group (ICG), a research organization, published a new report on the crisis in Central Africa, in which it discussed the issue of smuggling of ivory and diamonds to Sudan.

Crisis Group says that foreign poachers “now traverse the whole country due to the disappearance of elephants and rhinos in the east.” Typically the foreign poachers are aided by local networks. They leave behind the meat while exporting the tusks.

Citing interviews with the wildlife ministry and the former director of the Sangha Nature Reserve, ICG stated, “Much of the ivory is taken through the northeast of the country before passing to Sudan, while a more insignificant amount is taken to Bangui where it is bought by local traders (Chinese, Lebanese) or to Cameroon in markets in Libongo and Yokadouma.”

Last year in May the World Wildlife Fund reported that horse-mounted Sudanese ivory poachers killed at least 26 elephants in the Dzanga Bai national park. According to Crisis Group, these poachers were bearing an order signed by a government official in Bangui in order to facilitate their expedition.

The ICG report explains, “The poachers form groups of 20 to 80 people and practice militarized poaching in the east of Central Africa. According to corroborating sources, these groups are armed with AK-47s, equipped with satellite phones and financed by certain Sudanese families living in the Nyala area in South Darfur.”

The poachers are selling ivory in the Sudanese cities Buram, Tulus and Um Dafog, located not far from the borders with Central Africa and South Sudan. From these towns it is sent to Nyala and then exported mainly to Asia.

Officials as far as Cameroon have implicated Sudanese poachers in killings of elephants. In early 2012 officials and wildlife organizations reported that nearly 300 elephants were slaughtered in a single dry season campaign…

State Dept.: Hamas still raising funds in Sudan

The U.S. State Department has repeated its claim that Hamas uses Sudan as a source of financing in its new report on activities by state sponsors of terrorism covering the 2013 time period.

Although the State Department did not name specific financing operations, press reports in 2013 indicated that the Hamas front company known as Hassan & Abed International for Roads & Bridges operates in Khartoum. Last year it was also alleged that Malik Obama, the President’s brother, raised funds for Hamas through a Sudan-based organization. More recently, a leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood visited the Sudanese capital amidst questions about Sudan’s role in regional weapons trafficking.

Excerpts from the State Department’s report follow (emphasis mine):

Elements of al-Qa’ida (AQ)-inspired terrorist groups remained in Sudan.  The Government of Sudan has taken steps to limit the activities of these elements, and has worked to disrupt foreign fighters’ use of Sudan as a logistics base and transit point for terrorists going to Mali, Syria, and Afghanistan.  However, groups continued to operate in Sudan in 2013 and there continued to be reports of Sudanese nationals participating in terrorist organizations.  For example, regional media outlets alleged one Sudanese national was part of an al-Shabaab terrorist cell that attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September.  There was also evidence that Sudanese violent extremists participated in terrorist activities in Somalia and Mali.

In 2013, Sudan continued to allow members of Hamas to travel, fundraise, and live in Sudan.  

The UN and NGOs reported in 2013 that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is likely operating in the disputed Kafia Kingi area, claimed by Sudan and South Sudan, in close proximity to Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).  At year’s end, the United States continued to engage the Government of Sudan, the AU, and the UN to evaluate these reports.

The kidnapping of foreigners for ransom in Darfur continued, although no U.S. citizens were kidnapped in 2013.  These kidnappings have hindered humanitarian operations in Darfur.  Abductees have been released unharmed amid rumors of ransoms having been paid.

In 2013, the United States continued to pursue justice for the January 1, 2008 killing of two U.S. Embassy employees.  At the end of the year, the Sudanese Supreme Court was deliberating on an appeal filed by defense attorneys of the three remaining men convicted of the two murders, requesting that their death sentences be commuted…

The Government of Sudan has made some progress in opposing terrorist financing, although members of Hamas are permitted to conduct fundraising in Sudan…

The report goes on to say that Sudan’s central bank “circulates” the names of sanctioned individuals to Sudanese banks. The report doesn’t go as far as to say that the banks are actually closing accounts or freezing the assets of designated terrorists. Doesn’t sound like much progress to me.

The government of Sudan hasn’t come out with an outright denial of the allegations, but rather says that the U.S. report “lacks credibility.”

Arms pour in for Boko Haram

Gunrunning from the Sudan and Central African Republic into Nigeria to arm the jihadist group Boko Haram is destabilizing the entire region.  Cameroon has had to deploy more forces to its northeastern region to contend with the rising tide of arms traffickers passing through Cameroonian territory.  One analyst says, “After wars, firearms are sold at relatively low prices, a real business opportunity for traffickers.”  Indeed, that seemed to be the case after the Libyan uprising against Qaddafi as well:  many of the Libyan weapons have wound up arming the Al Qaeda aligned rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Perhaps it should not be a surprise that Sudan, a longtime state sponsor of terrorism and genocide, is one of the culprits behind the arming of Boko Haram.  And with players like this involved, ultimately the Gulf monarchies cannot be ruled out of pulling the strings and financing some of these activities behind the scenes.

From IRIN:

Arms smuggling to Boko Haram threatens Cameroon

YAOUNDE, 21 February 2014 (IRIN) – Recent arms seizures and arrests of traffickers in Cameroon’s Far North Region have highlighted the escalating insecurity caused by Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria and the impact of the unrest in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.

In January, Cameroon’s security forces arrested a man attempting to transport 655 guns to Nigeria. In September 2013, 5,400 AK-47 rifles were seized on a pick-up truck in Maroua, the capital of Far North Region, according to officials and local media.

“Many fire arms have been seized from traffickers in the region in recent days, coming from crisis countries like Sudan and CAR. The number could be higher due to the disarmament taking place in CAR. This region remains a zone for traffickers because it is closer to Nigeria,” a Maroua Police officer told IRIN.

Cameroon has stepped up security in the Far North Region following Nigeria’s military crackdown on Boko Haram, which has pushed back the insurgents to border regions and forced thousands of civilians to flee into Cameroon.

“Before the deployment of the special security forces of the Rapid Intervention Unit in 2009 to the Far North of Cameroon, the region was highly plagued by highway robbers armed with light machine guns. But today, armed robbery has reduced in the Far North, giving way to arms traffickers now targeting new markets in neighbouring Nigeria,” said a gendarme official with the intelligence division.

“Because of the vast nature of the region’s borders, traffickers sometimes can pass through the region without being detected”…

Bin Laden’s old bank signs £100m London deal

Osama Bin Laden used to send money to his operatives through Tadamon Islamic Bank, a sharia-compliant financial institution based in Yemen.  Hassan al-Turabi, the man largely responsible for the imposition of sharia law in the Sudan, also had free access to Tadamon in the 1990s.

Tadamon, now calling itself Tadhamon International Islamic Bank, maintains a “wholly owned subsidiary” investment bank called Tadhamon Capital in Bahrain.  Tadhamon Capital has just reached a £100 million (163 million USD) agreement to build a mixed-use student housing and commercial development on Paul Street in London.

From ArabianBusiness.com:

Bahrain investment firm inks $163m London deal

By Andy Sambidge

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Bahrain-based Sharia compliant investment firm Tadhamon Capital has announced the acquisition of its second Central London development in a deal worth more than £100m ($163m).

It said the Paul Street development was concluded in a joint venture with Apache Capital and McLaren Property following the full letting of its first prime London student development, Paris Gardens.

The Paul Street development will be comprised of three blocks, two of which will contain 456 student accommodation units with a 1,550 sq ft ground floor retail space, with the third block consisting of a stand-alone office building.

Tadhamon said in a statement that construction work is expected to commence in during the first quarter of 2014 with completion targeted by the end of Q3 2015.

It said the investment is expected to generate a minimum average annual net cash yield of 7.3 percent.

Paul Street is located on the northern fringe of the City, within proximity of the fashionable areas of Hoxton and Old Street.

Waleed Abdulla Rashdan, CEO of Tadhamon Capital, said: “Over the past four years we have taken a strategic decision to expand our investments within the UK and have since focused on building our social infrastructure platform.

“To date, we have successfully closed 10 transactions at a total value of £240m… We will continue exploring further opportunities within these sectors as part of our platform as they have proven their resilience to market changes, and continued their marked growth.”

He added “Over the past years we have established a solid real estate investment platform which will be used to replicate our success and experience within the UK to invest over the next 18 months in selected cities within the EU, US and Turkey.”

IMF weighs debt relief for genocidal Sudan

The genocidal and Arab supremacist regime of Omar al-Bashir is demanding that the International Monetary Fund bailout Sudan by cancelling billions of dollars of external debt.

The Sudan has long been under international and U.S. sanctions for its bloody repression by Arab Sudanese Islamists against black Sudanese Muslims and Christians, and for historically playing host to terrorists from Carlos the Jackal to Osama Bin Laden.  Cancelling the Bashir regime’s debts would amount to aiding and abetting a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Save Darfur Coalition has rightly condemned the possible debt forgiveness in even starker terms, declaring:  “No Bailout for Sudan’s $34 Billion Debt.”  Read it all:

Save Darfur Coalition says No Bailout for Sudan’s $34 Billion Debt

Group Offers Recommendations for Dealing with Odious Debt

ISTANBUL- The Save Darfur Coalition is at the IMF and World Bank Meetings asking officials not to forgive Sudan’s debt.  Save Darfur considers Sudan’s debt to be odious, meaning it was borrowed and used against the interests of its own people, in this case, used to finance civil war in the south and genocide against the people of Darfur.

Sudan currently holds USD$34 billion in debt, owed mostly to the IMF/World Bank, western Chinese and Arab creditors. And according to a recent policy report published by the IMF, of all countries, Sudan has the most overdue arrears to the Fund – owing 75% of the USD$2.09 billion in total backpayments.  Now, with the global economic recession bringing down oil prices, Sudan’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz is in Istanbul asking for a debt-relief package from the IMF and the World Bank.

At the height of meetings in Istanbul, Save Darfur is offering recommendations to the World Bank, the IMF and international leaders on how to deal with odious debt and on what conditions Sudan’s debt can and should be relieved.

Save Darfur is calling on the international community to make clear that Sudan’s debt can only be forgiven if there is concrete and lasting progress toward:

• Peace in Darfur
• The full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and
• Significant structural reforms that fundamentally change the repressive systems in Sudan.

“The international community should deal simultaneously with Sudan’s economic challenges and human rights abuses. Providing debt relief to Sudan before its leaders demonstrate a commitment to peace will not serve the interests of the Sudanese people, it will only give more political legitimacy and further financial resources to the repressive regime in Khartoum,” says Save Darfur’s Senior Policy Advisor Sean Brooks.

UN quietly lifts sanctions on Bin Laden accomplice

The UN’s sanctions committee removed Adel Batterjee’s name from its Al Qaeda blacklist earlier this year.  News coverage of the removal appears to have been limited to Saudi media outlets.  The U.K. followed suit shortly thereafter by lifting sanctions on Batterjee as well.

The shocking development casts further doubt on the cryptic de-listing process spearheaded by Canadian lawyer and UN ombudswoman Kimberly Prost that also led to white-listing of Muhammad Atta associate Abdelghani Mzoudi, jihadist financier Yasin Al-Qadi, and Al Qaeda check smuggler Soliman al-Buthe.  Prost’s reports and recommendations to the UN committee are secret, and the decisions are made with no explanations, transparency, or opportunities for public comment.

Meanwhile, author J. Millard Burr has published a new book, The Terrorists’ Internationale, through the American Center for Democracy.  Burr’s book documents the growth of Islamist terror groups in the 1980s and 1990s and the role of Sudanese intriguer Hassan al-Turabi in their development.  In it, Burr describes Adel Batterjee as a “close friend” of Osama bin Laden who “‘had become an important figure in the jihad movement’ by the mid-nineteen eighties.”  Batterjee moved back and forth between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to obtain financing for Lajnat Al-Birr Al-Islamiya (The Islamic Benevolence Committee), a bin Laden front charity.

Contradicting Batterjee’s claims that he had no contact with Bin Laden after 1991, Burr writes:

…Bin Laden and Batterjee had re-created their [Lajnat] charity in the Sudan and in 1992 registered it under a new name, the Al-Birr al-Duwaliya–known in the West as the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF). Its official headquarters was listed as Saudi Arabia, and Batterjee was named its director. Although centered in Khartoum, the “charity” continued to operate in Pakistan; Batterjee reduced the Al-Birr operation at Peshawar, but the small staff located there was likely called on to support Bin Laden’s interests in the Dawa Al Irshad at Murdike, and with two mujahideen training camps located in the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands…

The CEO of the Benevolence International Foundation served 10 years in federal prison on racketeering charges stemming from the foundation’s “charitable” work.  In 2004, Treasury undersecretary Stuart Levy said that Batterjee “ranked as one of the world’s foremost terrorist financiers, and employed his private wealth and a network of charitable fronts to bankroll the murderous agenda of al-Qaeda.”

Hamas front company active in Khartoum

We’re told periodically that Sudan isn’t really a state sponsor of terrorism.  Sanctions against the country are said to be a mere holdover from years ago when the Sudanese hosted Osama bin Laden in the 1990s—sanctions which have been renewed strictly on the grounds of government negligence in managing “conflict” and “humanitarian access” subsequent and unrelated to bin Laden’s departure.

But the evidence continues to show that if you want to finance terrorism, Sudan is still one of the best places to operate.  Earlier we learned about the presence of and fundraising by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Sudan.  Then we found that Sudan’s janjaweed poach elephants and sell the ivory to fund terrorism.  And never mind that Eritreans are kidnapped for ransom in Sudan, or their organs are sold on the black market with the revenues enriching Hamas.  Now it comes to light that an alleged engineering company operates in the capital of Sudan for the exclusive benefit of Hamas.

Oh, and Saudi Arabia has at least three front companies for Hamas, too.  From the Investigative Project for Terrorism (h/t Sal Imburgia):

Article Alleges Hamas Money Laundering

by IPT News  •  May 16, 2013

Hamas has several business fronts operating in Saudi Arabia and Sudan which launder money for the terrorist group, the Arab News claimed in a report Wednesday.

The report claims “high-level Gulf sources” confirmed a previous story in Kuwait’s al Seyassah about the illicit activity. The Gulf Cooperation Council is expected “to put an end to the illegitimate financial activity Hamas is carrying out, without excluding these authorities arresting and prosecuting the movement’s leadership cadres,” an IPT translation of the Arab News report said.

The story named four specific businesses serving as fronts benefitting Hamas. It did not make clear what crimes generated the money, thus requiring its laundering.

Three of the companies identified are in and around Jeddah; al Sawa’id Technical for Contracting, “Al Afaq for Computer Technology and Amsar for Trade. The fourth, Hassan and Abed International for Roads and Bridges, was described as operating in Sudan’s capital Khartoum…

Canadian subsidiary invests in genocidal Sudan

Despite Sudanese state sponsorship of terrorism and its campaign of massacres by Arab Muslims against black Muslims and Christians, a Vancouver-based firm, Statesman Resources, has an African subsidiary that maintains an oil exploration concession in the Sudan.

This information comes from Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  Schanzer points out that although he believes such investment is legal, it is totally out-of-step with Western expectations about refraining doing business with the Sudanese:

Why is the West Doing Business with Sudan?

Jonathan Schanzer
5th April 2013 – National Post

What does Canada have in common with the regime in Sudan, which perpetrated genocide in Darfur, while allying with Iran and providing weapons to the Palestinian terror group Hamas?

In practical terms, they share very little. Ottawa withholds commercial support services and government-to-government development co-operation from Sudan. Canada’s parliament also has enforced sanctions mandated by the United Nations Security Council, including an arms embargo, as well as an asset freeze and travel ban on certain individuals.

Yet, somehow, it is legal for Canadian firms to invest in Sudan’s oil sector.

Just consider Vancouver-based Statesman Resources. The company owns 50.1% of an African subsidiary, Statesman Africa. In July 2012, Statesman Africa was awarded 75% of an oil exploration area known as “Block 14” in northwest Sudan, along Egypt’s southern border.

Preliminary estimates by Statesman Africa indicated that the block might have a “mean potential resource of 600 million barrels.” By November 2012, Block 14’s prospects looked even brighter. One estimate suggested that it held “1.5 billion barrels of gross un-risked prospective resources.”

According to the Associated Press, as of December 2012, Statesman Africa was “in the process of being formally registered in Sudan and opening an operational office in Khartoum.” According to the company’s CEO, Sudan’s state oil company, Sudapet, is “essentially … a joint venture partner.” Statesman must also work with Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum, which is the regulatory authority.

To be clear, there is nothing illegal about Statesman’s investment in Sudan. Canadian companies are apparently free to do business with Khartoum. But in doing so, they are out of step with Canada’s otherwise sensible foreign policies in the Middle East.

Sudan, as noted above, is a patron of Hamas. It allows the group’s leaders to fundraise and train on Sudanese soil. It also was the origin point for Iranian-made Fajr 5 long-range rockets that were smuggled into Gaza and subsequently fired into Israel during the conflict in November 2012. This was not the first time Sudan helped Iran smuggle weapons into Gaza, either.

Canada has properly listed Hamas under its criminal code. There are severe penalties for “persons and organizations that deal in the property or finances of a listed entity. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly participate in, or contribute to, any activity of a listed entity for the purpose of enhancing the ability of the entity to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity.”

Yet, somehow, it is legal to engage in business with Hamas’ patron, Sudan.

Sudan serves as an important hub for Iran’s terrorist training, financial investments, and the distribution of Iranian weapons to jihadi groups across the African continent. Canada has placed strong sanctions on Iran for its global terrorist activity and its pursuit of an illicit nuclear program. Yet, somehow, it is legal to engage in business with Iran’s close ally, Sudan.

This dissonance appears to be rooted in Canada’s focus on Sudan’s civil conflict, rather than its foreign policies. As one official government website notes, “Improved bilateral relations between Canada and Sudan are contingent on the Government of Sudan’s willingness to take steps toward maintaining a peaceful relationship with the Republic of South Sudan and its other neighbors, ending the current violence in Darfur and the transitional areas, and improving the overall human rights situation across the country.”

The United States, by contrast, lists Sudan as a State Sponsor of Terror. Khartoum earned this distinction in 1993 by allowing al-Qaeda to create its headquarters in the country during the 1990s. However, it remains on the list now for its close and continuing ties to both Iran and Hamas…

Read it all here.

By the way, Ken Rijock also advises entities doing business with Sudanese companies to obtain written assurances from them that their goods and services aren’t benefiting end users in Iran.  Statesman Resources wouldn’t want to run afoul of Canada’s sanctions on Iran by engaging in slipshod business practices in Sudan, would they?

Hamas funded by slave and organ trade

Sudanese and East African flesh peddlers aligned with Hamas terrorists are ransoming captives and engaging in the trade of human organs to buy weapons for jihad.  This information does not come from right-wing Cassandras, but from CNN’s own correspondent in Berlin, Frederik Pleitgen.

The wages of this shameful trade are $35 million annually, says Pleitgen, in a completely overlooked but significant piece entitled “Human trafficking in the Sinai: to fight it we need to know it,” last month on the human rights webpage EveryOne.  Here are some of his most salient points:

• Eritrean and Sudanese human traffickers continue kidnapping Eritrean refugees for ransom.
• “Every refugee kidnapped by the traffickers means roughly 20,000 dollars for armed fundamentalism. The turnover of trafficking is around $35 million per year. The Sudanese President, Omer Hassan al-Bashir, has acknowledged the role of the Rashaida tribe in the slave and organs trade…”
• “Some of the major traffickers, including Abu Ahmed and Abu Khaled, have declared in interviews reported in the media, to be part of Hamas. In Sudan, through this massive fundraising activity focused on the abduction and sale of human beings, they are preparing the future stages of the war against the “infidels,” Western culture and the State of Israel.”
• “[T]he Kalashnikovs in possession of Hamas militants are bought with profits from the slave and human organs trade.”

Read Pleitgen’s full piece here, and earlier Money Jihad coverage on this subject here.  Thanks to Twitter user @meankitteh1 for suggesting fresh coverage of the role of human trafficking in financing terrorism.