*EPF510 10/18/2002
Texts: Treasury Announces Designation of Terrorist Organization
(Gurule denies Europe trip aimed at group of wealthy Saudis) (2250)

A Treasury Department official has announced designation of the Global Relief Foundation as an organization that finances al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

In a statement released to reporters October 18 Treasury Under Secretary Jimmy Gurule also denied a Washington Post report that he was traveling to Europe specifically to coordinate an attack on financing of terrorism by a group of wealthy Saudis.

"While I will discuss high-impact, high-value al-Qaeda targets -- as we always do -- I am not traveling with a 'Saudi list,'" Gurule said. "We're pleased with and appreciate the action that has been taken by the Saudis in our global war on terrorism."

On the terrorist designation, he said the Global Relief Foundation had extensive ties with Usama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations and their supporters, including groups that fostered terror in Kashmir.

"The United States today submitted this group's name to the UN sanctions committee for inclusion in its consolidated list of entities and individuals whose assets UN member states are obligated to freeze pursuant to UN security council resolutions 1267 and 1390," Gurule said.

He said his pending trip to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden was aimed in part at pressing the Europeans to take a leadership role in the fight against terrorist finance.

It also was aimed to promote momentum in the fight against terrorist finance and to engage the private sector in the fight, he said.

Following are the texts of Gurule's statement and a Treasury fact sheet:

(begin statement text)

October 18, 2002

PREPARED STATEMENT BY UNDERSECRETARY FOR ENFORCEMENT JIMMY GURULE

We continue to wage our relentless war on terror -- both here in the U.S. and overseas. We are harvesting information, coordinating with our allies, and taking action against terrorist networks. We are seeing progress. We have frozen dollars and the assets of organizations, deterred donors and supporters, and forced terrorist backers to use riskier, more vulnerable methods of raising and moving money.

Our efforts are having real-world effects. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are suffering financially as a result of our actions. Potential donors are being more cautious about giving money to organizations where they fear that the money might wind up in the hands of terrorists. In addition, greater regulatory scrutiny in financial systems around the world is further marginalizing those who would support terrorist groups and activities.

The war on terrorism is only beginning, and it is certain to demand constant vigilance. In the year since that terrible day, we have hit them hard. Our goal is to bankrupt their institutions and beggar their bombers. This war -- the financial war against terrorism -- is complicated and much more remains to be done. We are off to a good start, but this is a long-term war of attrition that we are waging. We will not relent.

As part of this campaign, today the Treasury Department designated the Global Relief Foundation under the authority of Executive Order 13224.

The Global Relief Foundation (GRF) has connections to, has provided support for, and has provided assistance to Usama Bin Ladin, the al-Qaeda Network, and other known terrorist groups.

One of the founders of GRF was previously a member of the Makhtab Al-Khidamat, the precursor organization to al-Qaeda. The GRF has received funding from individuals associated with al-Qaeda. GRF officials have had extensive contacts with a close associate of Usama Bin Ladin, who has been convicted in a U.S. court for his role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

GRF members have dealt with officials of the Taliban while the
Taliban was subject to international sanctions.

The GRF has connections with known terrorist organizations and with known supporters of terrorist organizations, including the shipment of materiel to a terrorist organization operating in the Kashmir region and through financial transactions with a Texas-based charitable organization.

The United States today submitted this group's name to the UN sanctions committee for inclusion in its consolidated list of entities and individuals whose assets UN member states are obligated to freeze pursuant to UN security council resolutions 1267 and 1390.

For those of you with additional questions about GRF, a fact sheet will be handed out at the end of this briefing.

Another key part of this campaign is also international coalition building -- encouraging our allies to combat terrorist financing and ensuring that their work in this area remains complementary and supportive of U.S. strategy. To advance that goal, I depart this Sunday to travel to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden.

I am traveling to engage high-level European officials -- in the banking, finance and law enforcement communities -- on matters relating to the fight against terrorist finance.

My three principal objectives are:

1. Maintaining Momentum: The key to this trip will be a renewal of momentum in combating the financing of terror by:

-- underscoring importance of preserving international momentum in war against terrorist financing;
-- pursuing improvements in operational effectiveness of blocking actions;
-- obtaining commitments to strengthened law enforcement and regulatory efforts; and
-- revitalizing the European targeting and designation process.

2. Creating Greater Public/Private Interaction: For years, the problem of money laundering was considered by many to be a strictly law enforcement concern. Recent anti-money laundering success has come as more and more financial sector participants see this as a system wide problem and accept their responsibility to do something about it.

Similarly with counter terrorist financing, the long-term, effective solution lies in developing a pro-active private sector that can work with law enforcement to foster awareness and induce vigilance throughout the community of financial service providers.

And 3. Calling upon Europe to Take a Leadership Role: The USA Patriot Act is helping the U.S. to catch up to many of Europe's anti-money laundering practices. Just as Europe and the European Union have been leaders in anti-money laundering efforts so they need to take a similar role with regard to the financing of terror. While we appreciate Europe's help with U.S. initiatives in this area, we fully expect our European allies to be leaders in their own right as we collectively search for the most effective ways to disrupt and destroy the financial underpinnings of terror. European leadership should be internal as well as external. Internally, our European allies must lead by example in adopting and implementing effective counter-terrorist financing regimes. Externally, we will rely on European leadership to:

-- work with the FATF [Financial Action Task Force], the IFIs [international financial institutions] and the UN CTC [Counter-Terrorism Committee] in helping to provide technical assistance to those jurisdictions in need of such assistance;
-- facilitate or support designation of new terrorist-related parties;
-- continue to cooperate with U.S. investigative and law enforcement efforts against terrorist financing.

Lastly, a story in the newspaper today suggests I am going to Europe with a "Saudi list." That is incorrect. I am going to Europe to encourage our allies to combat terrorist financing and ensure that their work in this area remains complementary and supportive of U.S. strategy. While I will discuss high-impact, high-value al-Qaeda targets -- as we always do -- I am not traveling with a "Saudi list."

As President Bush has said, the U.S. is pleased with and appreciates the actions taken by the Saudis to date and is confident that they will continue to take the appropriate actions in the future. Saudi government cooperation in the war against terrorism has been substantial. Examples of such cooperation include:

(a) joint designation with the U.S. of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Somalia branch of the Saudi-based charity al-Haramain;
(b) joint work with the Saudi government on regulating charities to prevent their abuse; and
(c) worked with the Saudi government directly on identifying targets -- the recent joint designation of Julaidan in a prime example of that.

To repeat, we're pleased with and appreciate the action that has been taken by the Saudis in our global war on terrorism.

I will now take a couple of questions.

(end statement text)

(begin fact sheet text)

TREASURY DEPARTMENT FACT SHEET ON THE GLOBAL RELIEF FOUNDATION

The Global Relief Foundation (GRF), also known as Fondation Secours Mondial (FSM), and its officers and directors have connections to, and have provided support for and assistance to, Usama bin Ladin (UBL), al Qaeda, and other known terrorist groups. These include groups previously designated by the United States under President Bush's September 2001 Executive Order 13224 regarding terrorism and included on the United Nations 1267 Sanctions Committee's consolidated list of individuals and entities whose assets are required to be frozen pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1267 and 1390.

Links to UBL and al Qaeda:

Rabih Haddad, a senior GRF official who co-founded GRF and served as its president throughout the 1990s and in the year 2000, worked for Makhtab al-Khidamat (MAK) in Pakistan in the early 1990s. MAK was co-founded by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam and UBL in the 1980s and served as the precursor organization to al Qaida. MAK was designated by President Bush in E.O. 13224 and was subsequently included on the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee's consolidated list. The organization has helped funnel fighters and money to the Afghan resistance in Peshawar, Pakistan, and established recruitment centers worldwide to fight the Soviets. Azzam, who served as a mentor to UBL, was killed in 1989. He is also regarded as a historical leader of HAMAS, which was designated under E.O. 13224. At a recent immigration hearing, Haddad conceded that he met Azzam in Pakistan and characterized him as a "hero."

In addition, GRF has provided financial and other assistance to, and received funding from, individuals associated with al Qaida. Mohammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, a suspected financier of al Qaida's worldwide terrorist efforts, was arrested in Europe in April 2002. GRF has admitted receiving funds from Zouaydi.

GRF and FSM personnel had multiple contacts with Wadih El-Hage, UBL's personal secretary when UBL was in Sudan. El-Hage was convicted in a U.S. district court in May 2001, for his role in the UBL-directed 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. At the time that El-Hage was playing an active role in an al Qaida terrorist cell in Kenya, he was in contact with GRF. For example, documents recovered from a search in Kenya indicated that El-Hage was in contact with GRF after he returned from visiting al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan in February 1997. GRF has acknowledged that El-Hage and Nabil Sayadi, FSM's Director in Belgium, were in contact during this period.

Links to Taliban and Other Entities and Background:

A GRF employee also dealt with officials of the Taliban, which at the time was an entity subject to U.S. sanctions pursuant to United States E.O. 13129 (prohibiting trade and most transactions with the Taliban because it provided a safe haven and base of operations for UBL and al-Qaeda) and subject to international sanctions pursuant to UNSCRs 1267 and 1333. In November 2001, during the airstrikes in Afghanistan, a GRF medical relief coordinator traveled to Kabul, against the advice of the U.S. Department of State, and engaged in dealings and negotiations with Taliban officials until the collapse of the Taliban regime.

A set of photographs and negatives discovered in 1997 in a trash dumpster outside of GRF's office in Illinois depict large shipping boxes displayed under a GRF banner. The boxes were full of sophisticated communications equipment, including approximately 200 handheld radio transceivers, long-range radio antennas, and portable power packs, with an estimated total value of $120,000. Other photographs depict fighters armed with automatic rifles, a sand-bagged bunker with a radio antenna mounted outside, and mutilated corpses with the name "KPI" (Kashmir Press International) printed alongside. Yet another photograph displays two dead men with the caption "Hizbul Mujahideen," a known terrorist organization operating in the Kashmir region. On the reverse side of the photograph was handwritten in Arabic, "two martyrs killed by the Indian government."

GRF has stocked and promoted audio tapes and books authored by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, discussed above, which glorify armed jihad, including "The international conspiracy against Jihad" and "The Jihad in its present stage." Despite Azzam's terrorist background, GRF has enthusiastically promoted Azzam's materials to the public: "His [Azzam's] theology is a sea, his words are jewels, and his thoughts are a light for those who are holding the smoldering embers. He lived the Jihad experiences of the 20th century in Afghanistan ... and Palestine, and produced a new theory for saving the [Islamic] Nation from disgrace, shame, weakness, and submission to others."

GRF has published several Arabic newsletters and pamphlets that advocate armed action through jihad against groups perceived to be un-Islamic. For example, one 1995 GRF pamphlet reads "God equated martyrdom through JIHAD with supplying funds for the JIHAD effort. All contributions should be mailed to: GRF." Another GRF newsletter requested donations "for God's cause -- they [the Zakat funds] are disbursed for equipping the raiders, for the purchase of ammunition and food, and for their [the Mujahideen's] transportation so that they can raise God the Almighty's word ... it is likely that the most important of disbursement of Zakat in our times is on the jihad for God's cause ...."

GRF received $18,521 from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) in 2000. HLF, a Dallas, Texas based Islamic charitable organization, was designated under E.O. 13224 on December 4, 2001, and under the European Union's Regulation (EC) No. 2580/2001 on June 17, 2002, for its ties to terrorism. HLF's designation was upheld in a recent decision by a U.S. district court.

(end fact sheet text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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