U.S. ex-congressman indicted in terror funding case

A federal grand jury has indicted a former U.S. lawmaker for his links to a charity that supports Al-Qaeda. The charity sent funds to an Afghanistan-based supporter of Al-Qaeda through banks in Pakistan. U.S. ex-congressman indicted in terror funding case Former Republican representative Mark Deli Siljander was named in a 42-count indictment against the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), charged with "engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of U.S.-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Siljander, 57, faces money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges in the case. Hekmatyar is an Islamist rebel leader who received U.S. aid in the 1980s to resist the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He briefly served as Afghan prime minister in the 1990s and initially opposed the Taliban regime, but then switched sides after the October 2001 U.S.-led invasion. According to the indictment, in 2003 and 2004 IARA sent some 130,000 dollars to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan "purportedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned and controlled by Hekmatyar" -- who is believed to be hiding in eastern Afghanistan or Pakistan while leading his Hizb-i-Islami (Islamic Party) faction. Siljander, who represented a congressional district in the midwestern state of Michigan from 1981 to 1987, owns and heads a public relations company. The indictment says IARA hired Siljander in March 2004 to lobby Congress to remove the group from a US Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of supporting international terrorism. It alleges that Siljander "engaged in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation in an effort to disguise IARA's misuse of taxpayer money that the government had provided for humanitarian purposes." The Wednesday indictment supersedes a 33-count indictment from March 2007. It does not charge the defendants with material support of terrorism, "nor does it allege that they knowingly financed acts of terror," the statement read. Rather, it alleges that some of the defendants "engaged in financial transactions that benefited property controlled by a designated terrorist," in violation of U.S. laws. The indictment "paints a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein. IARA, which had earlier been an U.S. Agency for International Development contractor hired to work on relief projects in Mali, Africa, was closed in October 2004 when the Treasury Department named it "a specially designated global terrorist organization." Other defendants include Mubarak Hamed, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sudan; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Libya; and Ahmad Mustafa, 55, a U.S. resident and citizen of Iraq.

U.S. ex-congressman indicted in terror funding case

Former Republican representative Mark Deli Siljander was named in a 42-count indictment against the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), charged with "engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of U.S.-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Siljander, 57, faces money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges in the case.

Hekmatyar is an Islamist rebel leader who received U.S. aid in the 1980s to resist the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He briefly served as Afghan prime minister in the 1990s and initially opposed the Taliban regime, but then switched sides after the October 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

According to the indictment, in 2003 and 2004 IARA sent some 130,000 dollars to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan "purportedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned and controlled by Hekmatyar" -- who is believed to be hiding in eastern Afghanistan or Pakistan while leading his Hizb-i-Islami (Islamic Party) faction.

Siljander, who represented a congressional district in the midwestern state of Michigan from 1981 to 1987, owns and heads a public relations company.

The indictment says IARA hired Siljander in March 2004 to lobby Congress to remove the group from a US Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of supporting international terrorism.

It alleges that Siljander "engaged in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation in an effort to disguise IARA's misuse of taxpayer money that the government had provided for humanitarian purposes."

The Wednesday indictment supersedes a 33-count indictment from March 2007. It does not charge the defendants with material support of terrorism, "nor does it allege that they knowingly financed acts of terror," the statement read.

Rather, it alleges that some of the defendants "engaged in financial transactions that benefited property controlled by a designated terrorist," in violation of U.S. laws.

The indictment "paints a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein.

IARA, which had earlier been an U.S. Agency for International Development contractor hired to work on relief projects in Mali, Africa, was closed in October 2004 when the Treasury Department named it "a specially designated global terrorist organization."

Other defendants include Mubarak Hamed, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sudan; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Libya; and Ahmad Mustafa, 55, a U.S. resident and citizen of Iraq.