Two Al Taqwa Directors Removed From UN Al Qaeda Designation List

By Victor Comras

A little noticed UN press release January 19th announced a decision by the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee to remove Mohamed Mansour and his wife Zeinab Mansour-Fattouh from its consolidated list of designated al Qaeda members and associates. Mohamed and Zeinab Mansour had originally been designated by the US Treasury Department in November 2001, along with Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin as key members of the al Taqwa banking network. Their UN designation followed shortly thereafter. According to the Treasury Department, �The al Taqwa group� long acted as financial advisers to al Qaida, with offices in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and the Caribbean�.{and} provide(d) investment advice and cash transfer mechanisms for al Qaida and other radical Islamic groups.� (Full US Treasury Designation Fact Sheet here)

Mohamed and Zeinab were key shareholders and member�s of Al Taqwa�s board of directors, along with Youssef Nada, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, Albert Friedrich Armand Huber, and Ali Ghaleb Himmat. There removal from UN designation now comes with no explanation from the UN or the US Treasury Department. There is no indication that the couple have yet been removed from the Treasury (OFAC) designated list. The effect of their removal from the UN list means that their assets can be unfrozen by any jurisdiction and apparently that has already been done in the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, where they are believed to have held accounts. The other al Taqwa board directors, Nada, Nasreddin, Huber and Himmat remain on the UN Consolidated List.

According to UN Guidelines the government of residence or citizenship and/or the government that originally requested the designation can apply to the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Committee to have the designation removed. Committee consensus is required to grant removal. If consensus cannot be reached the matter may still be referred to the Security Council for resolution. Apparently, the United States concurred in lifting the UN designation on Mohamed and Zeinab Mansour. One must wonder whether and when they might take similar action to remove from the US OFAC list.

While the al Taqwa banking network was shut down shortly after 9/11, the US and its international partners have been singularly unsuccessful in putting those who ran al Taqwa out of business (see my series of earlier blogs on this topic. Action was taken to freeze some bank accounts associated with Youssef Nada, Ahmed Nasreddin, and the other al Taqwa board members. But, many of their business assets remain unfrozen. Nada, Nasreddin and the other al Taqwa board members also escaped any criminal prosecution for their involvement in financing al Qaeda and related groups. In fact the Government of Switzerland�s Prosecutors office was ordered to re-imburse Youssef Nada for some of the expenses he entailed due to their criminal investigation against him. The failure to effectively sanction al Taqwa�s management can only send the wrong message when it comes to dissuading other terrorist financiers.

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