IARA pleads guilty to sending money to Iraq, violating sanctions
The Islamic American Relief Agency, which used to be based in Columbia, has pleaded guilty to sending nearly $1.4 million to Iraq in violation of government sanctions.
A representative of the agency’s board of directors entered the plea on Wednesday. The charges against the IARA included conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstructing the administration of internal revenue laws.
As part of a plea agreement, the IARA admitted to sending $1,375,000 to Irag in violation of federal sanctions, which had been in place since 1990. Those funds went to Iraq with the help of a Jordanian national, who either took cash across the border or bought items in Jordan and sent them to Iraq.
The IARA closed in October 2004 following a raid by federal agents. The raid came after the Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist organization. Once this case is resolved, the IARA will dissolve itself as a corporation for all time, and no new corporation will be formed to carry on the IARA’s former activities. Part of the plea deal further says no fines will be assessed, since according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office the organization “has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine.”
Several IARA leaders and employees have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with this investigation, including Executive Director Mubarak Hamed (sentenced to four years and 10 months in federal prison), fundraiser Abdel Azim El-Siddig (sentenced to two years probation), and IARA board members Ali Mohamed Bagegni and Ahmad Mustafa (each sentenced to six months probation).
Mark Siljander, a former U.S. Representative and deputy United Nations ambassador from Michigan, was also indicted for helping the IARA by trying to get the organization removed from government lists of charities suspected of funding terrorism. For his role, Siljander was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the IARA was the U.S. office of the Islamic Relief Agency based in Sudan. From 1993 to 2003, the IARA took in between $1 million and $3 million, and got funds from the United States Agency for International Development.
Read more details on the case and parties involved in this press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
