Landmark Terror Financing Case Against Arab Bank Begins After about a decade of waiting and a last ditch attempt to get the US government or Supreme Court to block the case, the most significant terror finance case ever to go to trial in US history, against Arab Bank started on August 11. The Jordanian government implied that if the bank, which is essentially Jordan’s sovereign bank, loses, its economy and the entire counter-terror cooperation with the US could fall apart. Whatever the result of the case is, the case could shine a light on the world of terror financing. The case itself involves allegations that Arab Bank facilitated massive transfers of funds to Hamas leaders and institutions, as well as to the families of imprisoned Hamas members and suicide bombers, via Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s al-Shahid Foundation, mostly between 1998 and 2004, but the evidence may focus on 2001 to 2004. The plaintiffs, who are 300 victims and family members of 24 terrorist attacks in Israel, alleged that Arab Bank knew that the funds were related to terrorists and terror groups, and thus, is civilly liable for the deaths resulting from terror attacks perpetrated using the transferred funds, and thus, may have to pay damages for the killing of their family members. Arab Bank said that there is a lack of proof that the funds went to terrorists, that the funds contributed directly and sufficiently to terror attacks, or that the bank had any knowledge of a connection to terrorism. An important issue in the case, which brought the US State Department, Justice Department, and Treasury Department to loggerheads over what official US policy should be, is an April 2013 sanctions order imposed by a New York federal court that penalized the bank for refusing to hand over key documents that the plaintiffs said that they needed to prove their case. The bank said that it refused the plaintiffs’ requests because it could have incurred criminal sanctions from Jordan and Lebanon for violating bank secrecy laws. However, a lower US court rejected this reasoning and ordered that a jury could infer that the bank’s refusal to release documents was basically an admission of guilt. In May 2014, the US government said that the Supreme Court should not intervene before the trial, but harshly criticized the lower court for not fully considering the foreign policy consequences of disregarding Jordanian sovereign interests in the case. If Jordan’s interests are ignored, the US government reserved the right to intervene after the trial. Gary Osen, one of the lead lawyers for the numerous plaintiffs, said at the time, “Hopefully, we’ve cleared the last roadblock to a trial on the merits. Our clients have waited 10 years for this moment.” Another question is what standard of proof would be applied to the bank. The answer to this question could set precedents for massive banks in policing their wire transfers, heightening standards of responsibility. This includes pass-through institution for correspondent banks where the transfer funds originate. Arab Bank bristled at the idea that it was connected to terrorism, or should be held responsible for fund transfers to persons whom the US might later have declared terrorists, and who, at the time of the funds’ transfer, were not on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control watch-list. Arab Bank asked how it can be held to a higher accountability standard than the US government, especially when some of the funding sources in dispute had received transfers directly from parts of the US government and had been declared “terror free” by top US officials at the time. Over the years of numerous trials, some of this evidence had been thrown out as too general. Before the trial, Arab Bank maintained its claim that the transfers were made with no knowledge of wrongdoing at the time, despite the terror-connected persons the transfers were made to, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, arch-terrorist commanders (now deceased) Salah Shehada and Ahmed Jabari, and Hamas founder Ibrahim al-Muqadama. The post Landmark Terror Financing Case Against Arab Bank Begins appeared first on Jspace News. ift.tt/1svx8zS
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:24:49 +0000
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