Wikileaks: Saudis 'chief funders of Sunni militants'
Saudi banker counts new riyal notes (2007) The cables said militant groups had
used front companies in Saudi Arabia to fundraise
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned last year in a leaked classified
memo that donors in Saudi Arabia were the "most significant source of funding
to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide".
She said it was "an ongoing challenge" to persuade Saudi officials to treat
such activity as a strategic priority.
The groups funded include al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, she added.
The memo, released by Wikileaks, also criticised efforts to combat militants by
the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the founder of the Wikileaks website said he was
holding back secret material for release if anything happened to him.
He told the BBC that a rape case being prepared in Sweden against Julian
Assange, an Australian national, was politically motivated.
'Dependent on CIA'
In one classified cable sent in December 2009, Mrs Clinton urged diplomats to
redouble efforts to stop funds reaching militants "threatening stability in
Pakistan and Afghanistan and targeting Coalition soldiers".
"While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) takes seriously the threat of
terrorism within Saudi Arabia, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade
Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a
strategic priority," she wrote.
Pilgrims walk outside the Great Mosque in Mecca during the Hajj (18 November
2010) Large sums are raised by militant groups during the annual Hajj
pilgrimage, US diplomats believe
The Saudi government had begun to make important progress, but "donors in Saudi
Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist
groups worldwide", she added.
Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba "probably raised millions of dollars"
annually from Saudi sources, often during the Hajj - and the Islamic holy month
of Ramadan, she alleged.
Mrs Clinton said reforms to criminalise terrorist financing and restrict the
overseas flow of funds from Saudi-based charities had been effective, but that
they did not cover equally suspect "multilateral organisations".
Another cable alleges that the Pakistani charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which has been
accused of being a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, used a Saudi-based front company
to fund its activities in 2005.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
The lack of effective border controls on cash is no doubt exploited by
Taliban couriers and Afghan drug lords"
End Quote Leaked US diplomatic cable
The US embassy in Riyadh said in February that the Saudi authorities remained
"almost completely dependent on the CIA" for information.
'Key transit point'
Wikileaks is currently working through the publication of more than 250,000 US
diplomatic cables, whose release has embarrassed the United States.
Washington has condemned the disclosures - including indiscreet descriptions of
world leaders and instructions to spy at the UN - as an attack on the world
community.
In the latest releases, three other US allies in the Gulf were also listed as
sources of funding for militants in the memo sent by Mrs Clinton.
Al-Qaeda and other groups continued to "exploit Kuwait both as a source of
funds and as a key transit point", partly because it remains the sole Gulf
Co-operation Council (GCC) country that has not criminalised terrorist
financing, the cable said.
"While the GOK has demonstrated a willingness to take action when attacks
target Kuwait, it has been less inclined to take action against Kuwait-based
financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside of Kuwait," Mrs Clinton
wrote.
Kuwaiti officials resisted the "draconian" measures sought by the US against
the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, a charity designated a terrorist
entity in 2008 for providing aid to al-Qaeda and affiliated groups, according
to one cable.
Qatar is meanwhile criticised for having "adopted a largely passive approach"
to fundraising activities, and its overall level of counter-terrorism
co-operation with the US is "considered the worst in the region".
The UAE is described as a "strategic gap" that militants can exploit, with the
Taliban and Haqqani Network believed to be earning "significant funds" from
business interests, kidnapping and extortion there.
"High volumes of cash and electronic funds flow both to and from Afghanistan
and Pakistan, the vast majority of which is derived from legitimate trade and
remittances. The lack of effective border controls on cash is no doubt
exploited by Taliban couriers and Afghan drug lords, camouflaged among traders,
businessmen and migrant workers," one cable said.
Another cable said militants avoided money transfer controls by sending amounts
below reporting thresholds, using couriers and hawala - an Islamic informal
transfer system.
Emerging trends include mobile banking, pre-paid cards, and internet banking.
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