[The Washington Post] Lebanon’s Hezbollah denies US allegations of role in $300 million laundering scheme

Aviroce

2011-12-25 21:30:40 UTC

When Hezbollah was resisting Jew attack during the last war when Bitch
II was in office, news articles were flowing that although the borders
between Lebanon and Israel were closed, Jew drug trafficors were
moving into Lebanon to pick merchandise coming from Afghanistan.
American Jew soldiers were sending the high quality opium through
Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon to Israel where the consumption is
record high. Jews were making the money and Jews were transporting
the merchandise. I am sure this could not happen in vacuum. Some
Arabs would have to help for a fee. But Hezbollah would not help
these Jew bastards.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/lebanons-hezbollah-de...
Lebanon’s Hezbollah denies US allegations of role in $300 million laundering
scheme
By Associated Press,
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Hezbollah is denying US allegations of involvement in a
$300 million laundering scheme and drugs trafficking, with its deputy leader
claiming in comments published Tuesday the charges were false and that
America was “not fooling anyone” with accusations meant to harm his
anti-Israeli group.
Sheik Naim Kassem said the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim group does not follow
“a religiously prohibited path” to develop its resources and that the
accusations were part of U.S. efforts to tarnish Hezbollah’s image.
His remarks to supporters Monday evening followed accusations by U.S.
federal authorities last week that Lebanese financial institutions wired
more than $300 million to the United States in a laundering scheme they said
used the U.S. financial system to benefit Hezbollah.
“America’s allegations of money laundering or financing the group from
narcotics money are not fooling anyone,” Kassem said.
The remarks, published on Hezbollah’s website Tuesday, were the group’s
first on the issue.
The U.S. government said in the lawsuit filed in a Manhattan federal court
that it seeks nearly a half-billion dollars in money-laundering penalties
from some Lebanese financial entities, 30 U.S. car buyers and a U.S.
shipping company.
Prosecutors said the $300 million was wired from Lebanon to the United
States and used to buy used cars and ship them to West Africa. They said
Hezbollah money-laundering channels were used to ship proceeds from the car
sales and narcotics trafficking back to Lebanon.
The U.S. accusations came after an indictment in federal court in Virginia
accused fugitive Ayman Joumaa of leading a drug conspiracy that provided
income for Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. State Department
as a terrorist organization since 1997.
A Washington-based Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman, Lawrence R.
Payne, told The Associated Press in February that Joumaa’s organization
laundered money using 50 used car lots in the United States. Cars were
exported to Lebanon and West Africa.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the civil case brought Thursday reveals a
massive international scheme in which Lebanese financial institutions,
including banks and two exchange houses linked to Hezbollah, passed money
through the U.S. financial system to launder narcotics trafficking and other
criminal proceeds through West Africa and back into Lebanon.
The government said substantial portions of the cash were paid to Hezbollah.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
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