US: ex-congressman lobbied for terrorists
Siljander accused of using “bridging the gap between Muslims and Christians” project to launder, lobby for terrorists
An Indictment against Mark Deli Siljander as party in a case against the Islamic American Relief Agency alleged the ex-congressman laundered money through a book project, bridging the gap between Muslims and Christians.
Earlier this week, attorneys for Siljander began an apparent typical snow job against the federal case that dares to challenge the Islamist agenda.
Lawyers for the Michigan ex-congress Republican, and former United Nations delegate, filed a continuance motion stating November is too soon for trial – and Siljander is unemployed - needing taxpayers to foot the bill for his defense.
Siljander, according to the indictment, helped the Islamic American Relief Agency launder money, at one point by accepting allegedly false donations for the Bridging the Gap book project.
Project monies instead ended up in the coffers of Islamist Muslim terrorist leaders such as al-Qaeda, helping fund the training of child suicide bombers at Islamist Muslim orphanages in the Middle East.
In the narrative for count 32 in the 40-page, 42-count indictment, the U.S. prosecution clarifies false statements they say Siljander made to U.S. investigators in the case.
“The payments [Siljander]… received from the defendant were charitable donations intended to assist him in writing a book about bridging the gap between Islam and Christianity,” the indictment narrative reads.
In counts 29 through 31, the indictment enumerates money laundering schemes the U.S. government accused Siljander of participating in, including June 30, 2004, transferred funds in the amount of $18,337.
Another check from “the National Heritage Foundation, Ambassadors of Peace and Reconciliation,” was paid to Siljander’s “Global Strategies Inc.,” for $23,000.
The indictment identifies the Islamic American Relief Agency as having a Sudanese identity as the Islamic African Relief Agency, headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan.
Another briefing in the indictment narrative noted Pakistan’s government had given 1,000 acres of land to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, linked to Islamic American Relief, to provide for a refugee camp.
The indictment said 300,000 residents would be located there, and it would contain, “…offices, complexes, schools and an ‘orphanage.’” With quotation marks linked to a footnoted reference.
“An orphanage in Peshawar, Pakistan, does not necessarily have all the same characteristics as an orphanage as we understand it in the United States,” the footnote reference said later in the indictment.
Family Security Maters Contributing Editor Douglas Farah, author of "Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror," commented recently on the case.
“If the government is right, an Islamic charity headquartered in sleepy Missouri and directed by those with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood-led regime in Sudan, stole U.S. money aimed at humanitarian relief,” Farah said.
They “then used that money to lobby the U.S. government in order to be able to raise more money.”
He added the case demonstrates how there are large holes in the U.S. system – holes through which money is slipping out to terrorist groups.
“Siljander, reportedly paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars … allegedly knew the money was illicit and set up accounts to launder the money to make it appear to be legitimate,” Farah said.
He said money went to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an “individual with a long and sordid past as one of the most vicious warlords to emerge during the cycle of wars in Afghanistan.”
Farah concluded, “Like many suspect charities, the IARA chose an out-of-the way place to operate from, in this case, Columbia, Missouri.”
He quoted U.S. Attorney John F. Wood, who chastised the organization “right here in the American heartland” for sending funds to Pakistan to benefit global terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
“By bringing this case in the middle of America, we seek to make it harder for terrorists to do business halfway around the globe,” Wood said.
Siljander attorneys on Monday, Feb. 11 claimed the ex-congressman was unemployed, and technically qualified for a public-financed defense.
Attorneys for the group, including defendants Mubarak Hamed, Ali Mohamed Begegni, Ahmad Mustafa, Khalid Al-Sudanee and Abdel Azim Al-Siddig, in addition to Siljander, claim November is too soon to properly defend the case because of extensive international documentation.
Documents and transcripts of intercepted conversations include translation work that defense attorneys claim should be given more time for proper contextual understanding in the interest of justice.