SEATTLE – More than $12 million was channeled to Iraq through a Pacific Northwest company in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a federal grand jury indictment that names 12 people.
“We have not ruled out the fact that any of these monies could have gone to fund terrorist activities or bolster the regime of Saddam Hussein,” Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of investigations for U.S. Customs in Seattle, told WorldNetDaily.
According to the indictment released today, Hussain Alshafei, an Iraqi native and naturalized U.S. citizen, was a point man for a worldwide ring that forwarded funds to a firm in Iraq called Al-Nour Trading.
Winchell said he believes the scope of the alleged operation is much larger than is indicated by the indictment.
“Clearly, the investigation goes on,” he said.
The probe is coordinated by Operation Green Quest, a multi-agency task force that targets systems and financial infrastructures used by terrorist organizations. It was created by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001.
Winchell said he also has not ruled out Alshafei’s claim that the purpose of his company – Alshafei Family Connect, Inc, of Edmonds, Wash. – was only to process money for expatriates who want to support families suffering under the Saddam regime.
But the customs agent pointed out, nevertheless, that the transfer of funds to Iraq is in itself a violation of U.S. sanctions. Moreover, his team believes it has evidence that the funds were meant for nefarious purposes.
“There were a number of sizeable wire transfers, and based on that, we clearly do not believe that this was just a bunch of money collected to help friends and family,” Winchell said. “I do not doubt, though, that some of it may have been used that way.”
The probe covered alleged transfers of funds to Iraq from about April 2000 to January 2002, in violation of an embargo enacted in 1990 by President George Bush under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Tentacles from Baghdad
U.S. Customs Commissioner Richard Bonner said the task force has “dismantled a sprawling illegal financial network whose tentacles reached from Baghdad to cities all across the United States.”
The indictment includes one count of conspiracy to launder money and 34 counts of money laundering.
The Iraqi company is run by a man whose family name is Fakher but is known by the alias Abu Haider.
Along with Alshafei and Fakher, the indictment names: Ali Mohammud Ali Abbas, an Iraqi based in Jordan; Haider Amer Fakher of Iraq; Hashim Mohsin Almosawi of Everett, Wash.; Abdulilah Hamid Daoud of London; Ahmed Fayadh Kathe of Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Salam Said Alkhursan of Dallas; Kaalid Amen of St. Louis; Ali Noor Alsutani of Nashville, Tenn.; Ali Almarhoun of Phoenix; and Malik Almaliki of Roanoke, Va.
This morning, customs agents in Seattle coordinated a nationwide action that resulted in the arrest of Alshafei in Seattle and five others across the country who are alleged to have been operating under his direction.
Winchell said his agency is pursuing apprehension of the men who are abroad to have them transferred to the U.S. to face charges. He said he obviously would not expect cooperation from Iraq and does not anticipate help from Jordan either, even though the U.S. has a treaty with the Middle East nation.
Alshafei is scheduled to make his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate today in Seattle.
Iraqi immigrant
The investigation began in January when Alshafei filed a civil lawsuit against a local branch of the Bank of America, charging that it had improperly closed his account. In the lawsuit, Alshafei acknowledged transferring funds to Iraq via Jordan in order to evade the embargo.
Ashafei said at the time that he thought the bank believed his business was too risky in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“This decision was made because I’m Arabic and because I’m Muslim,” Alshafei told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in January. “After what happened in September, I think they got afraid.”
The bank said privacy laws and pending litigation did not allow them to discuss the matter.
Alshafei, in his mid-thirties, said he came to the U.S. in 1994 to escape political oppression and became a citizen in 2000. He said he had sent the money of “thousands on thousands” of immigrants to Jordan where it is collected by relatives in Iraq who cross the border.
He called his business a lifeline to people in Iraq who would die without the money.
“There is no way to get any assistance to them, especially the kids,” he told the Seattle paper.
