Ransom paid for German-owned tanker
The Somali Muslim pirates are $5.5 million richer now, thanks to a ransom paid by an undisclosed source. But it is telling that the German government announced an urgent conference with shipping executives immediately after the ransom was paid.
Remember, Islamic law permits Muslims to demand fida' (ransom) of infidels (Koran 47:4) "until the war [against infidels] hath laid down its burdens." And every time a European government or even an insurance company pays fida', they're inflating the ransom market and enriching the Islamists. From the BBC on Dec. 28:
Somali pirates have freed a German-owned chemical tanker, reportedly after a $5.5m (£3.6m) ransom was paid.
The Marida Marguerite, with a crew of 19 Indians, two Bangladeshis and one Ukrainian, was seized in May by pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades.
Kenya-based officials said a ransom was paid, but there was no independent confirmation.
Pirates now hold 25 vessels and 587 hostages after they seized another German-owned ship on Monday…
One Tuesday afternoon, the Marida Marguerite was sailing to safe waters, according to Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
He said $5.5m was paid to release the ship. The vessel's owners have not yet commented.
Officials and companies rarely comment on the payment of ransoms, though analysts say such deals are widespread.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged fida', freedom of the seas, Germany, Kenya, piracy, Somalia | 1 Comment »
Lawyers poised to profit from the money jihad
Suppose Osama bin Laden were captured alive. And suppose like Khalid Sheikh Muhammad that the Obama administration tried to bring bin Laden to a civilian court in Manhattan. But don't give him a garden variety public defender or even a high-profile attorney working pro bono. Give him the best attorney that money can buy—even more than most of the 9/11 victims' families could expend on their own legal proceedings.
Now bin Laden can have the best attorney his money can buy, because all his assets could be unfrozen to use for a legal defense under a new OFAC licensing program. The new rules would even allow terrorists to establish their own legal defense funds. The more the jihadists tax, steal, and launder, the bigger cut their lawyers will eventually get.
If I were OFAC director Adam Szubin, a Bush appointee who has been kept on by Pres. Obama, I would resign immediately in protest of this disgusting insult to the victims of jihad. Here's the story from Creeping Sharia:
Obama gives terror suspects access to frozen assets
Posted on December 28, 2010 by creeping
The likes of the ACLU and CAIR can now get funds directly from the terrorists they defend. From Judicial Watch:
Caving in to the demands of liberal civil rights groups, the Obama Administration has quietly amended a counterterrorism sanction so that accused terrorists can pay for their defense with assets frozen by the U.S. government.
The exemption to the government's Global Terrorism Sanctions was made official this week by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for enforcing economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security threats. The office operates under presidential national emergency powers and acts largely on international mandates.
Among its duties is to freeze the assets of individuals or groups engaged in terrorist activities. Under executive orders signed by both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the OFAC can confiscate the assets of suspected terrorists identified by the Treasury Secretary if the funds are in control of institutions regulated by the U.S.
That means that individuals charged with terrorism can't access money to pay for attorneys, something that has long bothered the left. This week the Treasury Department gave in, making it possible for terrorism suspects whose assets have been frozen by Uncle Sam to use the money to pay for legal representation. Suspects must apply for a special license from the OFAC, which will make the cash disbursements.
The official amendment in the Federal Register says that the OFAC is adding "new general licenses to authorize U.S. persons to receive specified types of payment for certain authorized legal services." This also includes a license authorizing the establishment of legal defense funds that collect donations from persons who are not suspected of terrorism.
It's unlikely that the mainstream media will give this much coverage or that White House press releases will tout it. After all, the official notice in the Federal Registry says that "public participation" or "delay in effective date" are not applicable because the amendments involve a foreign affairs function and executive order.
There's more here plus reader comments.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged Adam Szubin, Eric Holder, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Obama, OFAC, Osama bin Laden, terrorist financing, Treasury Department | Leave a Comment »
Arab nations sign accord with vanishing ink
Amr Mohamed Moussa (left) and Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz (right)
All the members of the Arab League have recently signed some meaningless agreement to curtail terrorist financing. If the press account is accurate, the news is meaningless because the "agreement" is for each nation to develop its own CFT policies and no standards are laid out for increased monitoring of suspicious transactions. The Arab League might as well entitle the accord, "An Agreement to Disagree & Do Little."
The agreement may be more of a publicity stunt to impress Western investors more than anything else. Many of these 22 Arab countries won't even sign on to the United Nation's fairly weak International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Therefore, the new Arab League agreement must be extremely bland in order for all of their members to commit to it.
From the Saudi Gazette on Dec. 22:
CAIRO: Arab governments are getting together to fight terrorism by trying to dry up its supply of money, joining forces to battle money laundering.
The agreement to control money laundering is one of five signed by Arab interior and justice ministers. It calls on nations to set up their own programs to generate information and monitor money transfers.
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in News commentary | Tagged AML, Arab League, CFT, Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz | Leave a Comment »
NYT surprised by bypassed sanctions
The New York Times printed an article on Dec. 24 expressing surprise about the number of licenses granted to American companies to do business in countries under U.S. economic sanctions. The licenses, which are more like waivers, are granted by a "little known" agency. "Little known," perhaps, to the New York Times, but Money Jihad follows OFAC closely (see here, here, and here for example).
The New York Times managed to get some rare public comments from OFAC director Adam Szubin, who is quoted as saying his organization is too under-resourced to adequately evaluate all license requests. It's a curious statement given Treasury official Daniel Glaser's testimony before Congress earlier this year that Treasury has all the resources–legally and financially–that it needs in order to maintain its CFT and sanctions programs. Which assistant secretary is off message here?
Anyway, the New York Times piece is worth a look. For now I would just like draw readers' attention to part of the interesting data that NYT compiled from Treasury's database about the number of licenses granted to companies. Here are ten businesses with the highest number of waivers to engage in commercial activities with sanctioned countries:
Top 10 licensees operating in sanctioned countries
Note in particular the licenses for Iran. General Electric, Coico Medical LLC, and American Pulp & Paper are busy beavers there.
Many of the licenses are for valid humanitarian purposes. Some aren't. Popcorn seller Henry Lapidos told the New York Times that Iranian soldiers wouldn't "be taking microwavable popcorn" to war … Pretty glib, buddy. Sell the popcorn if you like, but don't fool us into believing that your local distributor and retailers aren't run by an Iranian bonyad under the control of a mullah or IRGC commander who's using the profits to fund a crackdown on pro-reform dissidents.
Posted in Charts & tables | Tagged Adam Szubin, figures, Iran, OFAC, sanctions, Treasury Department | Leave a Comment »
Saudi news says more for what it omits
Read the article first, then my commentary. From Emirates 24/7 on Dec. 23 (thanks to Rantburg):
Saudi bans posters on mosques
Saudi Arabia has banned sticking posters and other papers on mosques in an apparent bid to curb terror funding, a local daily said on Thursday.
Preachers told congregates at mosques that they have received instructions from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments to stop sticking any posters on mosque walls or inside the "house of God", Alyoum said.
"The preachers at the mosques said the ban covers all those posters which call for donations for Islamic activities and charity groups," the paper said.
"These calls have nothing to do with Islamic activities…posters authorized by the competent authorities, especially invitations for Islamic lectures at mosques and other places, are allowed provided they are removed after the event."
The paper quoted a Ministry official as saying the ban was prompted by "serious violations and an increase in posters that have nothing to do with Islam."
"Some people are using these posters for other purposes and this has prompted the Ministry to take that decision," the unnamed official said.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged Islam, Saudi Arabia, terrorist financing, zakat | 1 Comment »
Just another Gaullist day in the Arab world
The Syria Accountability Act prohibits Americans from doing business in Syria, but the French are under no such compulsion. France has just plopped another 30 million euros into Syria, but that's just a teensy example of the ongoing French approach to the region. From ANSAmed via Gates of Vienna:
ROME, DECEMBER 21 — A financial package worth thirty million euros has been announced by the French Cooperation Agency as aid to Syria for a project to improve water infrastructure in the Damascus area. According to the Italian Foreign Trade Commission in Damascus, the loan will be used for improving the water distribution network in the outskirts of the city — an area inhabited by 34,000 people.
In a BBC piece a few years ago, Allan Little described the differences between U.S. and French policies in Syria this way:
…The difference is the difference between idealism and pragmatism.
America wants to topple anti-western dictators; France wants to work with them in the hope that they will become less anti-western.
America believes it can introduce democracy to the Arab world; France is pleased when it manages to introduce ATMs to its banking system.
Each – in separate ways – is trying to re-shape the Arab world in its own image – and bend the Arab world to its own needs.
The Arab world – you sense – has different plans altogether.
One problem with aid and investments to rogue states with piss poor accounting systems is that all the money is fungible. The authoritarian bureaucrats can move money behind the scenes to other projects they deem more worthwhile (like destroying Israel). C'est la vie.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged foreign aid, France, Syria | Leave a Comment »
IFC courts Scotland
Scottish Enterprise, an agency of the government of Scotland, is pursuing investors for major renewable energy projects. One of Scottish Enterprise's leading suitors is the Islamic Finance Council, a Glasgow-based pro-sharia finance organization. The IFC would love to hook Scotland up with money from the oil rich nations of the Gulf—especially if they can attach strings to make the investment sharia compliant.
IFC rejects riba
This is the strategy, folks. First, introduce sharia financial products into a country. Make special rules and laws to allow them to expand parallel to conventional banking. Then eventually, start limiting the conventional banking sector while leaving Islamic financing in place. Eventually, if anybody needs a loan they'll have to talk to the money men of Islam first.
From The Herald on Dec. 23 (h/t Religion of Peace):
Islamic finance may fund major projects
The Scottish Government is looking again at using Islamic finance to bankroll major infrastructure projects.
The Islamic Finance Council, a UK-wide body based in Glasgow, says it held talks with Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International on December 10, describing it as "a joint round table with the IFC exploring opportunities for renewable energy sector investments using Islamic finance".
Meanwhile, leading financial lawyer Graham Burnside, a member of the IFC, has said Islamic bonds could be used fund major projects including the £2.3 billion Forth road crossing.
Mr Burnside, chairman of Edinburgh law firm Tods Murray, said: "We are going to be pretty short of sources of funding for development, we have got to raise our eyes as to where solutions can come from – whether you look at the private or public sector it's going to be pretty tight around here."
He added: "The biggest source of liquidity to be tapped is the petro-dollar world and the Gulf. It may well be that the bigger projects in the UK can be funded in part by a sovereign (wealth) fund from one of the Gulf states, and if so, they may well want an Islamic structure."
Two years ago First Minister Alex Salmond targeted Qatar as a funding source for some of his government's biggest infrastructure ambitions.
Scottish Enterprise said last night it was "actively looking at potential investors" in renewable energy, but it was "too early" to comment on Islamic finance.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged Islamic Finance Council, Scotland, Sharia finance, U.K. | Leave a Comment »
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