Counterterrorism Blog

The Swiss Prosecutors office has been forced to drop its criminal case against Youssef Nada and Al Taqwa for its role in financing al Qaeda and terrorism. The Prosecutors were given a May 31, 2005 deadline by the Swiss Court in Bellinzona to either move ahead with the case or close it. The Swiss government had been working on the case for over three years but continued to lack the hard evidence necessary to bring the case to trial. Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher visited Washington earlier this year to seek additional information from US government sources on the Nada/Al Taqwa case. Its not clear how much info he was able to obtain. Unable to assure themselves that they possessed adequate evidenciary material that would stand up in court, the Prosecutors office chose, in light of the May 31 deadline, to close down the case. In my view this represents a major blow to efforts to hold terrorism financiers criminally responsible for their support of international terrorism. It follows a line of other judicial decisions around the world to drop criminal cases against other identified terrorism financiers such as Yasin al Qadi and al Barakat. It also underscores serious issues related to sharing potentially sensitive source/methods intelligence or to using such intelligence in open court proceedings.
Much intelligence information fails to meet the evidentiary standards required in court, including heresay rules and the right of the accused to have access to/ and to cross examine the source of the information. We must find a practical way to close the gap between intelligence information and useable evidence. (See my earlier oped in the Washington Post) These are likely the most important reasons that this case has not moved forward. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor's Office Spokesman, Mark Wiedmer, more diplomatically stated only "The decision {to drop the charges) result only from factors related to the investigation."

Youssef Nada and his al Taqwa banking network were among the first groups to be designated by the White House and the US Treasury Department. The initial Treasury designation states in part that "Based on information available to Italy and the United States," Youssef Nada and his Al Taqwa network provided financial support for terrorist related activities. Bank Al Taqwa was established in 1988 with significant backing from the Muslim Brotherhood and has been involved in financing radical groups such as the Palestinian Hamas, Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front and Armed Islamic Group, Tunisia's An-Nahda, and Usama bin Laden and his Al Qaida organization. "In 1997, it was reported that the $60 million collected annually for Hamas was moved to Bank Al Taqwa accounts. As of October 2000, Bank Al Taqwa appeared to be providing a clandestine line of credit to a close associate of Usama bin Laden and as of late September 2001, Usama bin Laden and his Al Qaida organization received financial assistance from Youssef M. Nada."