Action Targets Two Financiers Responsible for
Supporting Terrorists throughout the Middle East
WASHINGTON – The U.S.
Department of the Treasury today imposed sanctions on Sa'd bin Sa'd Muhammad
Shariyan al-Ka’bi (al-Ka’bi), a Qatari financier of al-Qaida’s Syria-based
affiliate, al-Nusrah Front (ANF), and also on a Qatari al-Qaida facilitator,
'Abd al-Latif Bin 'Abdallah Salih Muhammad al-Kawari (al-Kawari). Both
have been designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) pursuant
to Executive Order 13224. Any assets these individuals may have under
U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from
doing business with them.
In
recent years, ANF and al-Qaida have resorted to increasingly complicated
schemes in the face of international pressure to maintain funding flows to
support terrorist activities. Today’s action advances efforts to target the
external funding networks of ANF and al-Qaida. The individuals designated today
played roles in supporting violent extremists in Syria, Pakistan, and Sudan.
“These
sanctions target two major facilitators of the al-Nusrah Front and al-Qaida,” said
Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam J. Szubin.
“Treasury remains committed to using our financial intelligence and authorities
to unravel and disrupt the funding schemes exploited by terrorist groups.”
Sa'd bin Sa'd
Muhammad Shariyan al-Ka'bi
As
of early 2014, al-Ka'bi reported that he had set up donation campaigns in Qatar
to aid with fundraising in response to a request from an ANF associate for
money to purchase both weapons and food. In that same time period, an ANF
official requested that al-Ka'bi act as an intermediary for collecting a ransom
for a hostage being held by ANF, and al-Ka'bi worked to facilitate a ransom
payment in exchange for the release of a hostage held by ANF.
In
2013, al-Ka'bi worked closely with U.S.- and UN-designated Kuwaiti ANF
fundraiser Hamid Hamad Hamid al-'Ali and received funding from him to support
ANF. Since at least late 2012, al-Ka'bi has provided support to ANF in
Syria.
A
bd al-Latif Bin
'Abdallah Salih Muhammad al-Kawari
Al-Kawari
has collected financial support for al-Qaida and served as an al-Qaida security
official. In early 2012, al-Kawari worked with al-Qaida facilitators to
coordinate the delivery of funding from Qatari financiers intended to support
al-Qaida and to deliver receipts confirming that al-Qaida received foreign
donor funding from Qatar-based extremists. Early that year, he also
facilitated the international travel of a courier who was carrying tens of
thousands of dollars earmarked for al-Qaida.
In
the early 2000s, al-Kawari worked with US- and UN-designated al-Qaida operative
Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan, also known as Hassan
Ghul (Ghul), and US- and UN-designated Qatari al-Qaida facilitator Ibrahim
'Isa Haji Muhammad al-Bakr (al-Bakr) to transfer money to al-Qaida in
Pakistan. At that time, al-Kawari also obtained a fraudulent passport for
Ghul, which Ghul used to travel to Qatar with al-Kawari and al-Bakr.
For
identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today, click
here.
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