Its Time For Switzerland "to Fish or Cut Bait" in the Nada/Al Taqwa Case (SPECIAL UPDATE 5-13)

By Victor Comras

The Swiss Federal Court in Bellinzona has ordered Federal Prosecutors Valentin Roschbacher and Claude Nicati to either move forward with their prosecution of Youssef Nada and his Al Taqwa organization or drop the charges (see SwissInfo). The court responded May 4, 2005 to an appeal filed by Nada, complaining that no action had been taken on the pending prosecution for over two years. The court found no good reason to support such a delay. The Federal court has given the Swiss Prosecutors office until May 31 to either refer the case to a criminal tribunal for prosecution or to withdraw it. It also awarded Nada SFr3,000 ($2,514) in court costs.

According to the prosecutor�s office, Al Taqwa and its directors, Youssef Nada and Ali Ghaleb Himmit provided financial support to al Qaeda and associated individuals and entities. The investation against Nada followed a search of Nada's home conducted in conjunction with Italian police authorities, and Nada's and Himmit's designation by the U.S. Treasury Department and the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee. The Swiss government also froze 24 Nada-related bank accounts. But, the Swiss government was counting also on the United States to provide additional information to back up US allegations against al Taqwa and Nada contained in a January 2002 letter from US Treasury Deputy General Counsel George B. Wolfe to the Swiss Prosecutor's Office (see my Earlier Blog on this Topic). Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher visited Washington last month where he met with new US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to follow up on the case. Blocher reportedly was quite satisfied with the cooperation he received giving rise to expectations that the Swiss government would move ahead quickly with the al Taqwa case. Nada's getting off the hook now would be a major setback for US and other Countries efforts to demonstrate their ability to hold identified al Qaeda financial faciliators accountable. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. (UPDATE 5-13 to include the January 2002 letter from Wolfe to the Swiss, along with letters by Nada and Nasreddin.)

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