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01-17-2008, 11:17 AM
Ex-Lawmaker Charged In Terror Conspiracy.
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press Writer.
Wednesday January 17, 2008.
A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000.00 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authrities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000.00 for the lobbying - money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency International Development.
Siljander, who served in the House from 1981- 1987, was appointed by President Ronald Regan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations for one year in 1987.
He (Siljander) could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. His attorney in Kansas City, J.R. Hobbs had no immediate comment.
The charges are part of a long-running case against the charity, which had been based in Columbia, Missouri., and was designated by the Treasury Department in 2004 as a suspected fundraiser for terrorists.
In the indictment, the goverment alleges that IARA emplyed a man who had served as a fundraiser for Osama Bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader and matermind of the September 11 attacks.
The indictment charges IARA with sending approximately $130,000.00 to help Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the United States has designated as a global terrorist. The money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2003 amd 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned.
Authorities described Hekmatyar as an Afghan mujahedeen leader who has participated in and supported terrorists by al-Qaida and the Taiban. The Justice Department said Hekmatyar "has vowed to engage in a holy war against th United States and internations troops in Afghanistan."
The charges paint "a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists and conspired with a former United States Congressman to convert stolen federal funds into payments for his advocacy," said Assissant Attorney General Knneth Wainstein said.
Siljander founded the Washington-area consulting group Global Strategies, Inc., after leaving the government.
The indictment says Siljander was hired by IARA in March 2004 to lobby the Senate Finance Committee in a effort to remove the charity from the panel's list of suspected terror fundraisers.
For his work, IARA paid Siljander wth money that was part of U.S. Government funding awarded to the charity years earlier for relief work it promised to perform in Africa, the indictment says. Under the grant agreement, IARA was supposed to return any us used funds after the relief was wrapped up in 1999.
Instead, Siljander and three IARA officers agreed to cover up the money's origins and use it on the lobbying effort, the indictment charges.
In interviews with the FBI in December 2005 and April 2007, Siljander denied any lobbying work for the IARA. The money, he told investigators, was merely a donation from the IARA to help him write a book about Islam and Christanity, the indictment says.
In 2004, the FBI raided the Islamic american Relief Agency-USA group's headquaters and the homes of people affilated with the group nationwide. Since then, the 20-years old charity has been unable to raise money and its assets have been frozen.
The charity has denied the allegations that it has financed terrorism. IARA in Columbia has arguked that it is a separate organization from the Islamic African Relief Agency, a Sudanese group suspected of financing al-Qaida. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled in February that there was a link between the two groups.
In an indictment handed down in March, the charity and four officers were charged with illegally transferring $1.4 Million Dollars to Iraq from March 1991 to May 2003--when Iraq was under various U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
The indictment also alleges that on 11 seperate occasions the defendants transferred funds from the United States to Iraq through Aman, Jordan, in order to promote unlawful activity that violated Iraq sanctions.
In all, Siljander, IARA and five of its officers were charged with various counts of theft, money laundering, aiding terrorists and conspiracy.
"By bringing this case in the middle of America, we see to make it harder fo terrorists to do business halfway around the globe," said John Wood, U.S. Attorney in Kansas City.
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press Writer.
Wednesday January 17, 2008.
A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000.00 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authrities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000.00 for the lobbying - money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency International Development.
Siljander, who served in the House from 1981- 1987, was appointed by President Ronald Regan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations for one year in 1987.
He (Siljander) could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. His attorney in Kansas City, J.R. Hobbs had no immediate comment.
The charges are part of a long-running case against the charity, which had been based in Columbia, Missouri., and was designated by the Treasury Department in 2004 as a suspected fundraiser for terrorists.
In the indictment, the goverment alleges that IARA emplyed a man who had served as a fundraiser for Osama Bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader and matermind of the September 11 attacks.
The indictment charges IARA with sending approximately $130,000.00 to help Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the United States has designated as a global terrorist. The money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2003 amd 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned.
Authorities described Hekmatyar as an Afghan mujahedeen leader who has participated in and supported terrorists by al-Qaida and the Taiban. The Justice Department said Hekmatyar "has vowed to engage in a holy war against th United States and internations troops in Afghanistan."
The charges paint "a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists and conspired with a former United States Congressman to convert stolen federal funds into payments for his advocacy," said Assissant Attorney General Knneth Wainstein said.
Siljander founded the Washington-area consulting group Global Strategies, Inc., after leaving the government.
The indictment says Siljander was hired by IARA in March 2004 to lobby the Senate Finance Committee in a effort to remove the charity from the panel's list of suspected terror fundraisers.
For his work, IARA paid Siljander wth money that was part of U.S. Government funding awarded to the charity years earlier for relief work it promised to perform in Africa, the indictment says. Under the grant agreement, IARA was supposed to return any us used funds after the relief was wrapped up in 1999.
Instead, Siljander and three IARA officers agreed to cover up the money's origins and use it on the lobbying effort, the indictment charges.
In interviews with the FBI in December 2005 and April 2007, Siljander denied any lobbying work for the IARA. The money, he told investigators, was merely a donation from the IARA to help him write a book about Islam and Christanity, the indictment says.
In 2004, the FBI raided the Islamic american Relief Agency-USA group's headquaters and the homes of people affilated with the group nationwide. Since then, the 20-years old charity has been unable to raise money and its assets have been frozen.
The charity has denied the allegations that it has financed terrorism. IARA in Columbia has arguked that it is a separate organization from the Islamic African Relief Agency, a Sudanese group suspected of financing al-Qaida. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled in February that there was a link between the two groups.
In an indictment handed down in March, the charity and four officers were charged with illegally transferring $1.4 Million Dollars to Iraq from March 1991 to May 2003--when Iraq was under various U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
The indictment also alleges that on 11 seperate occasions the defendants transferred funds from the United States to Iraq through Aman, Jordan, in order to promote unlawful activity that violated Iraq sanctions.
In all, Siljander, IARA and five of its officers were charged with various counts of theft, money laundering, aiding terrorists and conspiracy.
"By bringing this case in the middle of America, we see to make it harder fo terrorists to do business halfway around the globe," said John Wood, U.S. Attorney in Kansas City.