Inconsistent DAESH allegations against Kuveyt Turk Bank
St. Francis Assisi, a California-based association, filed a complaint against Turkey's Kuveyt-Turk Participation Bank in Northern California District Court last month, accusing the Turkish-Kuwaiti bank of allowing terrorist funding through its accounts and abetting DAESH's killings of Assyrian Christians in Iraq and Syria.
At first, I thought such blatant claims must have been supported by concrete evidence, and, honestly, I entirely disregarded the case. However, a second look provoked by widespread media coverage proved to be more fruitful. Because the case is contradictory in its allegations and there are a lot of inconsistencies that make one curious about whether the lawyer who penned the case knows enough about extremist organizations in Syria.
Mogeeb Weiss, attorney for the St. Francis Assisi association, says that Hajjaj al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti citizen who the U.S. and U.N. designated a financier for al-Nusra Front in 2014, has been collecting money for DAESH through Kuveyt-Turk Bank accounts since 2013. This is a weird claim because as everyone closely following Syria knows, al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and DAESH have been fighting each other since late 2013. So Weiss must explain why and how a designated al-Nusra Front supporter is funneling money to DAESH?
The complaint said Ajmi instructed followers to make their donations to a Kuveyt-Turk account registered under the name of the Sham Islamic Committee Association (SIC) - Şam İslami Heyeti Derneği in Turkish.
This is factually wrong because the complaint says the costumer number for this account is 8695311 and the Kuveyt-Turk records show this account does not belong to the SIC. It is registered under the name of another association, the Sham Humanitarian Foundation (SHF), or İnsani Şam Derneği. I could not verify whether the two associations have any ties, other than sharing a similar name.
Kuveyt-Turk's lawyer Ramazan Arıtürk shared a number of official documents with Daily Sabah that show the United Nations and UNICEF donated money to the SHF many times over the last few years and conducted joint humanitarian operations. Needless to say, the SHF is not a designated organization.
Another video mentioned in the complaint belongs to the SIC. It features the same Kuveyt-Turk Bank account that is actually registered to Sham Humanitarian Foundation. This oddity led me to investigate more into the SIC. Various sources told me that this organization has links to the Syrian Salafist-Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. However, the SIC has no ties with DAESH, and they even have countless publications condemning DAESH and declaring the so-called caliphate illegitimate. Needless to say, Ahrar al-Sham, too, is fighting DAESH. It is very clear that neither the SHF nor the SIC is linked to DAESH or al-Nusra Front.
Later on, the complaint got even odder. It says an Islamic Front account re-tweeted an organization called Mum-der on June 2015. But again, the Islamic Front, the biggest Syrian rebel group, which mainly consists of Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam, is battling DAESH. The complaint did not say how the Islamic Front and DAESH are linked whatsoever.
Finally, the complaint succeeds in loosely connecting Kuveyt-Turk accounts with DAESH, but only once. It says a Turkish-speaking Islamic Front Twitter account mentioned Kuveyt Turk in a post on June 2015. "The same account re-tweeted an association for Muslim prisoners located in Istanbul, Turkey and its followers include DAESH," the complaint says. Thousands of journalists and nongovernmental organizzations have social media accounts followed by DAESH supporters, including me. Clearly, the evidence is not sufficient to prove any links.
Obviously, St. Francis Assisi's lawyer does not know enough about the complicated battle scene in Syria, yet he accused everyone who is fighting DAESH of somehow being complicit in its crimes against Syrian and Iraqi Assyrians.
Kuveyt-Turk officials said that Ajmi had no accounts in their bank and, naturally, they cannot control donations to certain accounts that were properly opened for humanitarian aid. "A department in our bank monitors all accounts and all money transactions that are made in accordance with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and U.N. Sanctions Lists. All transactions are also subjected to compliance regulations," Kuveyt-Turk said in a written statement.
If you wonder who is behind St. Francis Assisi's lawsuit, there is a name, Thomas Creal. He was the lead accountant for Task Force 2010 in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2012 and is known for his expertise in following the illicit money trade. Creal and Weiss did not return my questions on these obvious inconsistencies.
For me, this case is not an innocent attempt, I believe there is a deeper story in it and the upcoming days will shed more light on its objectives.
At first, I thought such blatant claims must have been supported by concrete evidence, and, honestly, I entirely disregarded the case. However, a second look provoked by widespread media coverage proved to be more fruitful. Because the case is contradictory in its allegations and there are a lot of inconsistencies that make one curious about whether the lawyer who penned the case knows enough about extremist organizations in Syria.
Mogeeb Weiss, attorney for the St. Francis Assisi association, says that Hajjaj al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti citizen who the U.S. and U.N. designated a financier for al-Nusra Front in 2014, has been collecting money for DAESH through Kuveyt-Turk Bank accounts since 2013. This is a weird claim because as everyone closely following Syria knows, al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and DAESH have been fighting each other since late 2013. So Weiss must explain why and how a designated al-Nusra Front supporter is funneling money to DAESH?
The complaint said Ajmi instructed followers to make their donations to a Kuveyt-Turk account registered under the name of the Sham Islamic Committee Association (SIC) - Şam İslami Heyeti Derneği in Turkish.
This is factually wrong because the complaint says the costumer number for this account is 8695311 and the Kuveyt-Turk records show this account does not belong to the SIC. It is registered under the name of another association, the Sham Humanitarian Foundation (SHF), or İnsani Şam Derneği. I could not verify whether the two associations have any ties, other than sharing a similar name.
Kuveyt-Turk's lawyer Ramazan Arıtürk shared a number of official documents with Daily Sabah that show the United Nations and UNICEF donated money to the SHF many times over the last few years and conducted joint humanitarian operations. Needless to say, the SHF is not a designated organization.
Another video mentioned in the complaint belongs to the SIC. It features the same Kuveyt-Turk Bank account that is actually registered to Sham Humanitarian Foundation. This oddity led me to investigate more into the SIC. Various sources told me that this organization has links to the Syrian Salafist-Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. However, the SIC has no ties with DAESH, and they even have countless publications condemning DAESH and declaring the so-called caliphate illegitimate. Needless to say, Ahrar al-Sham, too, is fighting DAESH. It is very clear that neither the SHF nor the SIC is linked to DAESH or al-Nusra Front.
Later on, the complaint got even odder. It says an Islamic Front account re-tweeted an organization called Mum-der on June 2015. But again, the Islamic Front, the biggest Syrian rebel group, which mainly consists of Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam, is battling DAESH. The complaint did not say how the Islamic Front and DAESH are linked whatsoever.
Finally, the complaint succeeds in loosely connecting Kuveyt-Turk accounts with DAESH, but only once. It says a Turkish-speaking Islamic Front Twitter account mentioned Kuveyt Turk in a post on June 2015. "The same account re-tweeted an association for Muslim prisoners located in Istanbul, Turkey and its followers include DAESH," the complaint says. Thousands of journalists and nongovernmental organizzations have social media accounts followed by DAESH supporters, including me. Clearly, the evidence is not sufficient to prove any links.
Obviously, St. Francis Assisi's lawyer does not know enough about the complicated battle scene in Syria, yet he accused everyone who is fighting DAESH of somehow being complicit in its crimes against Syrian and Iraqi Assyrians.
Kuveyt-Turk officials said that Ajmi had no accounts in their bank and, naturally, they cannot control donations to certain accounts that were properly opened for humanitarian aid. "A department in our bank monitors all accounts and all money transactions that are made in accordance with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and U.N. Sanctions Lists. All transactions are also subjected to compliance regulations," Kuveyt-Turk said in a written statement.
If you wonder who is behind St. Francis Assisi's lawsuit, there is a name, Thomas Creal. He was the lead accountant for Task Force 2010 in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2012 and is known for his expertise in following the illicit money trade. Creal and Weiss did not return my questions on these obvious inconsistencies.
For me, this case is not an innocent attempt, I believe there is a deeper story in it and the upcoming days will shed more light on its objectives.
Last Update: July 15, 2016 02:56