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FBI
Says U.S. Muslim Charity Lied to Investigators
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U.S. authorities raid offices of an Islamic charity in November
2001
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CHICAGO,
April 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. officials arrested
the head of a Muslim charity here Tuesday on perjury charges, and
accused him of having links with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda
network stretching back 10 years.
Members
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Enaam Arnauot,
the 39-year-old executive director of Benevolence International
Foundation (BIF), at his home in suburban Chicago early Tuesday.
The
Syrian-born U.S. citizen is expected to appear in U.S. district court
here later Tuesday on charges that he lied in federal court documents
about links to “international terrorism,” the local states
attorney's office said in a statement.
U.S.
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said, "The complaint alleges
Benevolence International Foundation was supporting violence
secretly."
Arnauot
and the charity he heads, have been trying to overturn a U.S. Treasury
Department order freezing the organization’s assets and records.
The
Palos Heights, Illinois, charity was one of several U.S.-based Muslim
charities shut down by U.S. officials last year in a crackdown on
charitable organizations thought to be funneling money to regimes the
U.S. considers “terrorist.”
The
foundation insists it has nothing to do with “terrorism.”
But
in seeking to challenge U.S. authorities, local prosecutors allege
Arnaout made false statements about BIF's activities, claiming it had
clean hands when in fact it was supplying logistical and financial
support to al-Qaeda.
In
a raid of a Bosnian Benevolence International on March 19,
photographs, dating back to the 1980s of bin Laden in Afghanistan, as
well photos of Arnaout holding several weapons were found.
U.S.
government informants said Arnaout at one time handled money for bin
Laden. Another government witness cooperating with the FBI said the
organization was used in the early 1990s by bin Laden to transfer
money to bank accounts of relief organizations that also supplied
funds to other organizations.
The
charges include allegations that BIF associated with a man who
allegedly tried to acquire nuclear weapons for bin Laden.
The
FBI asserts that the foundation sponsored Mamdouh Salim, a bin Laden
associate, for a trip to Bosnia. Salim, the affidavit says, had at one
time attempted to get nuclear and chemical weapons for the al-Qaeda
organization, reports news agencies.
An
FBI affidavit said that the organization was, according to documents
seized in Bosnia, founded by a wealthy Saudi sheik, Adil Abdul Galil
Betargy, a bin Laden associate.
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