Text of Original Senate Finance Committee Letter on Suspect Charities, Including IARA

By Andrew Cochran

The Senate committee list of suspect charities to which Doug Farah refers was included in a December 22, 2003 letter from the then-Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Charles Grassley, and then-ranking Member, Sen. Max Baucus, to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. In it, the Senators requested the following tax information about "all charities, foundations and tax-exempt organizations, groups or entities who have been designated or listed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from September 11, 2001 to today":

"copies of all IRS materials - including information protected by Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code - for the attached list of charities, foundations, other tax exempt organizations, and other groups. The material should include Form 990s and Form 990 PFs, including the donors list for both types; Form 1023s, the charities’ applications for tax exempt status, and any and all materials from examinations, audits and other investigations, including criminal investigations."

The committee was entitled to view the information under Internal Revenue Code section 6103(f)(4), which enables Congresional committees of jurisdiction to view otherwise private tax files under certain restrictions. The Senators explained the reason for the request - an excerpt:

"Government officials, investigations by federal agencies and the Congress, and other reports have identified the crucial role that charities and foundations play in terror financing. While much attention has been paid to where their money ends up, the source of their funds is equally important. Often these groups are nothing more than shell companies for the same small group of people, moving funds from one charity to the next charity to hide the trail. These groups also receive donations from foreign sources, including countries the government has identified as having a significant problem with terrorism. The federal government and the Congress have identified several countries - some of which, ostensibly, are our allies - particularly in the Middle East, as a primary source of funds for charities and foundations that are under investigation or have fallen under suspicion for terrorist financing."

Here is the entire text of the December 22, 2003 letter, as released to the public on January 11, 2004 (the date cited by the Justice Department in the IARA-Siljander indictment for the release of the letter and list). And here is a press release issued in December 2005, in which Chairman Grassley effectively announced the end of the investigation, saying, "Terrorism financing, and particularly the use of tax-exempt entities by terrorists, remains a major issue of concern for the Committee.”

The December 2003 request letter named the following charities:

The SAAR Foundation and all members and related entities
Global Relief Foundation (GRF)
Benevolence International Foundation (BIF)
Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA)
Muslim Student Association
Islamic Association for Palestine
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF)
Muslim World League
International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) or Internal Relief Organization (IRO)
Al Haramain Foundation
Alavi Foundation
Institute of Islamic and Arabic Science in America (IIASA)
Islamic Assembly of North American
Help the Needy
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Islamic Foundation of America
United Association for Studies and Research (USAR)
Solidarity International and/or Solidarity USA
Kind Hearts
Islamic American Relief Agency and/or Islamic African Relief Agency
Islamic Society of North America
International Islamic Relief Organization
World Assembly of Muslim Youth
Rabita Trust
Human Appeal International

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