Al Taqwa Bank
Encyclopedia
The Al Taqwa Bank is a financial institution incorporated in 1988. It is based out of The Bahamas
, Switzerland
, and Liechtenstein
. Al Taqwa Bank was accused by the United States of having links to Islamist terror organizations, and that it was a major source of funds for the operations of Osama bin Laden
and his associates. On August 2, 2010, the bank was removed from a list of entities and individuals associated with Al Qaeda that is maintained by the UN Security Council.
, most notably Al Taqwa's chairman and co-founder, Youssef Nada
. Later, Swiss Islamic convert Ahmed Huber
, a vocal admirer of Adolf Hitler
, was hired because the company needed at least one Swiss citizen on its board. Another co-founder was François Genoud
, one of the key managers of Nazi assets after the second world war who later attained notoriety as the publisher of Joseph Goebbels
' diaries.
Al Taqwa Bank was targeted early on by the United States because of its alleged links to terrorism. The U.S. also targeted it because its allegedly terror-related funds indirectly filter through the banking system of the United States, through its use of correspondent account
s. Al Taqwa Bank holds such accounts with the Swiss Banca del Gottardo, which in turn holds correspondent accounts with Citibank
and the Bank of New York
.
of Osama Bin Laden
among its shareholders, and was once sued by a third. The family itself countered that this cannot "rationally be imputed to connote any hint of support for Osama."
In 2001, authorities in the Bahamas cancelled Al Taqwa's bank license there due to new laws designed to crack down on money laundering
. These laws would require Al Taqwa to maintain a physical presence in that country, which the bank declined. Later that year, Al Taqwa offices in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, along with the homes of Youssef Nada, Ahmed Huber, and one other Taqwa director, were raided by law enforcement agencies after being put on the Bush administration's "terrorist financiers" watch list.
Discovered in Nada's home was a document titled "The Project". Nada claimed to have no knowledge of who wrote it or how it came into his possession. The document describes a plan to establish "the reign of God over the entire world" by developing a framework of religious, educational and charitable organizations in the western world. It also recommends that readers engage in the "study of the centers of power locally and worldwide, and the possibilities of placing them under influence" and "nurtur[e] the sentiment of rancor with regard to Jews." No charges were pressed.
Jordan
accused the Al Taqwa bank of providing financial aid to the Jordanian organizations of Khader Abu Ghoshar and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
involved in plotting terrorist attacks on tourists during Jordan's "Millennium Celebration".
During the investigations into the 1998 United States embassy bombings
, the Islamic Center of Milan was found to be a nexus for recruits heading for an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan
.
. The communique stated that Al Taqwa Bank used secret accounts, convoluted real estate transaction
s, and other financial methods of obscuring the flow of money to funnel cash directly to organizations that would use the funds for terrorist attacks. Money would allegedly flow from Kuwait
and the UAE
into Al Taqwa offices in Lugano
and Malta
, where Al Taqwa provided "indirect investment services for Al Qaeda, investing funds for bin Laden, and making cash deliveries on request to the Al Qaeda organization."
These letters were intended to convince the Swiss to take legal action against banking operations the U.S. government considered suspect (Youssef Nada was himself based in Switzerland). These appeals had apparently been going on since the mid-1990s; Swiss banking officials knew of the reports of Al Taqwa Bank's connections to terrorism, but did not have the evidence to take official action, due to Switzerland's strict banking-secrecy laws
and the lack of transparency inherent in Islamic hawala
banking.
This drama played out largely away from public scrutiny. However, in 2002 the semi-secret intergovernmental letters were obtained by an American lawyer involved in a class-action suit against supposed terrorist financiers and subsequently entered into the public record.
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
. Al Taqwa Bank was accused by the United States of having links to Islamist terror organizations, and that it was a major source of funds for the operations of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and his associates. On August 2, 2010, the bank was removed from a list of entities and individuals associated with Al Qaeda that is maintained by the UN Security Council.
History
The Al Taqwa (Arabic for "Fear of God") network of financial companies was set up in 1988 by prominent members of the Muslim BrotherhoodMuslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, most notably Al Taqwa's chairman and co-founder, Youssef Nada
Youssef Nada
Youssef Moustafa Nada is a noted businessman and Muslim Brotherhood financial strategist, having recently served as chairman of al Taqwa Bank, the multinational financial services outfit accused by the US Treasury Department during the Bush administration of financing al Qaeda...
. Later, Swiss Islamic convert Ahmed Huber
Ahmed Huber
Ahmed Huber was a Swiss German journalist, and a convert to Islam, who was active in both Islamist and Far Right politics...
, a vocal admirer of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, was hired because the company needed at least one Swiss citizen on its board. Another co-founder was François Genoud
François Genoud
François Genoud was a noted Swiss financier and a principal benefactor of the Nazi diaspora through the ODESSA network and supporter of Middle Eastern liberation groups during the post-World War II 20th century. He was considered the Swiss financier of the Third Reich.- Early life:Genoud was from...
, one of the key managers of Nazi assets after the second world war who later attained notoriety as the publisher of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
' diaries.
Al Taqwa Bank was targeted early on by the United States because of its alleged links to terrorism. The U.S. also targeted it because its allegedly terror-related funds indirectly filter through the banking system of the United States, through its use of correspondent account
Correspondent account
A correspondent account is an account established by a large banking institution to receive deposits from, make payments on behalf of, or handle other financial transactions for smaller financial institutions....
s. Al Taqwa Bank holds such accounts with the Swiss Banca del Gottardo, which in turn holds correspondent accounts with Citibank
Citibank
Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...
and the Bank of New York
Bank of New York
The Bank of New York was a global financial services company established in 1784 by the American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. It existed until its merger with the Mellon Financial Corporation on July 2, 2007...
.
Alleged connections to terrorist financing
Al Taqwa counted two family membersBin Laden family
The bin Laden family , also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. The family was thrown into media spotlight through the activities of one of its members, Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks...
of Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
among its shareholders, and was once sued by a third. The family itself countered that this cannot "rationally be imputed to connote any hint of support for Osama."
In 2001, authorities in the Bahamas cancelled Al Taqwa's bank license there due to new laws designed to crack down on money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
. These laws would require Al Taqwa to maintain a physical presence in that country, which the bank declined. Later that year, Al Taqwa offices in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, along with the homes of Youssef Nada, Ahmed Huber, and one other Taqwa director, were raided by law enforcement agencies after being put on the Bush administration's "terrorist financiers" watch list.
Discovered in Nada's home was a document titled "The Project". Nada claimed to have no knowledge of who wrote it or how it came into his possession. The document describes a plan to establish "the reign of God over the entire world" by developing a framework of religious, educational and charitable organizations in the western world. It also recommends that readers engage in the "study of the centers of power locally and worldwide, and the possibilities of placing them under influence" and "nurtur[e] the sentiment of rancor with regard to Jews." No charges were pressed.
Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
accused the Al Taqwa bank of providing financial aid to the Jordanian organizations of Khader Abu Ghoshar and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...
involved in plotting terrorist attacks on tourists during Jordan's "Millennium Celebration".
During the investigations into the 1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...
, the Islamic Center of Milan was found to be a nexus for recruits heading for an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
U.S. and Swiss investigations
In 2002, the United States Treasury Department contacted the Swiss government by letter in an effort to convince authorities that Al Taqwa Bank had set up a special line of credit for Al Qaeda financial kingpin Mamdouh Mahmoud Salim to finance terrorist attacks by various terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda and HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
. The communique stated that Al Taqwa Bank used secret accounts, convoluted real estate transaction
Real estate transaction
A real estate transaction is the process whereby rights in a unit of property is transferred between two or more parties, e.g. in case of conveyance one party being the seller and the other being the buyer...
s, and other financial methods of obscuring the flow of money to funnel cash directly to organizations that would use the funds for terrorist attacks. Money would allegedly flow from Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
and the UAE
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
into Al Taqwa offices in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
and Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, where Al Taqwa provided "indirect investment services for Al Qaeda, investing funds for bin Laden, and making cash deliveries on request to the Al Qaeda organization."
These letters were intended to convince the Swiss to take legal action against banking operations the U.S. government considered suspect (Youssef Nada was himself based in Switzerland). These appeals had apparently been going on since the mid-1990s; Swiss banking officials knew of the reports of Al Taqwa Bank's connections to terrorism, but did not have the evidence to take official action, due to Switzerland's strict banking-secrecy laws
Banking in Switzerland
All banks in Switzerland are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority , which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes...
and the lack of transparency inherent in Islamic hawala
Hawala
Hawala is an informal value transfer system based on the performance and honor of a huge network of money brokers, which are primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and South Asia...
banking.
This drama played out largely away from public scrutiny. However, in 2002 the semi-secret intergovernmental letters were obtained by an American lawyer involved in a class-action suit against supposed terrorist financiers and subsequently entered into the public record.