U.S. Designates Important bin Laden/Qadi Associate

By Douglas Farah

The U.S. Treasury Department today designated Dr. Abdul Latif Saleh, a business associate of Yasin Kadi and funder of al Qaeda, as a Specially Designated terrorism sponsor. While the number of designations by Treasury has dwindled sharly since early 2002, this was an important step in dealing with the Qadi group that has continued terrorist financial operations in the Balkans, according to U.S. government officials. Qadi was designated in October 2001, and, as one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest and most prominent businessmen, has continued to deny any ties to terrorism. The Treasury Department announcement can be read here.

What makes Saleh interesting is that he is tied to the "charitable" al Haramain Foundation, one of the primier Saudi charities that is officially "non-governmental," but in fact closely tied to senior officials. The other interesting aspect is his work in Albania, where he founded a radical Islamic group bent on wreaking havoc in the Balkans. According to the designation, Osama bin Laden provided $600,000 to Saleh to set up his Albanian activities. Albania has become a stronghold of organized crime and terrorism in recent years. Officials in the Balkans view Albania as the most corrupted and criminalized state in the region, which is indeed saying alot. So desgnation's statement that the Qadi group continues to operate there, unimpeded, when almost all legitimate businessmen have been driven out.

The designation says Saleh was a partner of Qadi in several businesses in Albania. Qadi also has run several businesses in Bosnia that officials have linked financing of al Qaeda. This Albania-Bosnia network never went out of business, and continues to be a serious concern to intelligence officials in the region. NATO and United Nations forces continue to reduce their presence and few outside the immediate region seem to be paying any attention to the al Qaeda threat there. The network, and its access to easy money, investments, money laundering and banking services, should be of serious concern, especially since senior leaders of the jihadi movements from the early 1990s are now in positions of signficant power (i.e. Hassan Cengic and others).

The designation is useful, although, like most designated individuals, he likely had no money in the United States to freeze. What will be much more useful is if he is added to the consolidated United Nations list, making the freezing of his assets worldwide mandatory. Without that, and global enforcement of the measure, the designation will be like that of Yousef Nada, Idriss Nasreddin and countless others who continue to live lives of luxury and freedom despite being globally designated as terrorist financiers.

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