The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood web site is reporting that the US Treasury has lifted sanctions against self-described Muslim Brotherhood “Foreign Minister” Youssef Nada. According to the report:
Swiss-based Muslim Brotherhood member, Yusef Nada has had the freeze on his assets lifted a few months after his delisting from the terrorist list which was compiled by the US administration under Bush’s leadership. The Egyptian-born, Nada headed the listed Taqwa Islamic investment group with branches in Switzerland , Liechtenstein and the Bahamas which were put under surveillance on suspicion of supporting terrorist activities.The Switzerland and Bahamas-based Al-Taqwa financial network were among the earliest post 9/11 targets of U.S. Treasury Department who ordered the freezing of assets and bank accounts because of possible connections to terrorism. The former US president’s administration officials had alleged in congressional testimony that Al-Taqwa provided financial services to Al Qaeda both before and after the 9/11 attacks, in addition to allegedly handling millions of dollars in funding for the militant Palestinian group Hamas, itself is a direct outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. However, lack of evidence prompted the US treasury to lift the freeze which had been implemented since 2001 in an attempt to choke the MB leader and his assets..
A previous post discussed the UN decision to drop sanctions against Nada last month. As that posted noted, terrorism expert Victor Comras who believes that the Obama administration would have had to be supportive of the UN decision:
Comras also noted that given the fact that all listing and delisting decisions by the U.N. sanctions committee have to be unanimous, at some point, in his view, the Obama administration would have had to signal that it was willing to go along with Nada’s delisting.
There appears to be no independent confirmation as of yet on the alleged US decision.
Youssef Nada and Ghaleb Ali HImmat, his close associate, are best known for their role in establishing the infamous and now-defunct Al Taqwa Bank located “offshore” in the Bahamas. Numerous Muslim Brotherhood luminaries held shares in the bank, including the bank’s Sharia supervisor Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi and his family, which was supposed to conduct business in accord with Islamic principles. The bank was closed in 2000 after what Nada said were unforeseen developments related to the Asian financial crisis and a run on the bank caused by unfavorable publicity generated by accusations that the bank was funding Hamas. No documentation of the bank’s activities has ever been produced and Nada has refused to hand over the bank records which he said were moved to Saudi Arabia. Nada has claimed to be the acting “foreign minister” for the Muslim Brotherhood and is known to have met with Saddam Hussein. Himmat had also been a leader of the German Muslim Brotherhood.