Friday, December 09, 2011
Fai pleads guilty to conspiracy
From The Hindu
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai (62) , a Kashmiri-origin U.S. citizen arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on July 19, 2011 for allegedly acting as an unregistered lobbyist of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy and tax violations.
Fai’s guilty plea pertained to a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from the government of Pakistan to fund his lobbying efforts in America related to Kashmir, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Specifically Fai pleaded guilty on two counts of “criminal information,” the DOJ reported, explaining that the first count was conspiracy to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts he had a duty to disclose; and to defraud the Treasury Department by impeding the lawful functions of the IRS in the collection of revenue. The second count to which he admitted guilt was the charge of endeavouring to impede the administration of tax laws.
Following a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady in the Eastern District of Virginia, it was noted that Fai faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and a maximum three years in prison for the tax violation. Sentencing has been set for March 9, 2012. Further as part of his plea agreement, Fai has agreed to forfeit his interest in $142,851.32 seized by the government in July 2011, the DO said.
In a case that rocked the already dismal U.S.-Pakistan relationship over the summer the arrest of Fai was followed by revelations that he had served as the director of the Kashmiri American Council, a non-governmental organisation in Washington, D.C According to court documents, the KAC was “secretly funded by officials employed by the government of Pakistan, including the ISI.”
Commenting on the case Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said, “For the last 20 years, Mr. Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pakistani intelligence and lied about it to the U.S. government,” adding that as a paid operative of ISI, Fai did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistan while he met with U.S. elected officials, funded high-profile conferences and promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.
Casting a light upon some of the details of Fai’s scheme,the DOJ said in a statement that to prevent the Justice Department, FBI, Department of Treasury and the IRS from learning the source of the money he received from officials employed by the government of Pakistan and the ISI, Fai made a series of false statements and representations, according to court documents.
“For example, Fai told FBI agents in March 2007 that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI and, in May 2009, he falsely denied to the IRS on a tax return for the KAC that the KAC had received any money from foreign sources in 2008,” the DOJ said.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai (62) , a Kashmiri-origin U.S. citizen arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on July 19, 2011 for allegedly acting as an unregistered lobbyist of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy and tax violations.
Fai’s guilty plea pertained to a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from the government of Pakistan to fund his lobbying efforts in America related to Kashmir, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Specifically Fai pleaded guilty on two counts of “criminal information,” the DOJ reported, explaining that the first count was conspiracy to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts he had a duty to disclose; and to defraud the Treasury Department by impeding the lawful functions of the IRS in the collection of revenue. The second count to which he admitted guilt was the charge of endeavouring to impede the administration of tax laws.
Following a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady in the Eastern District of Virginia, it was noted that Fai faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and a maximum three years in prison for the tax violation. Sentencing has been set for March 9, 2012. Further as part of his plea agreement, Fai has agreed to forfeit his interest in $142,851.32 seized by the government in July 2011, the DO said.
In a case that rocked the already dismal U.S.-Pakistan relationship over the summer the arrest of Fai was followed by revelations that he had served as the director of the Kashmiri American Council, a non-governmental organisation in Washington, D.C According to court documents, the KAC was “secretly funded by officials employed by the government of Pakistan, including the ISI.”
Commenting on the case Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said, “For the last 20 years, Mr. Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pakistani intelligence and lied about it to the U.S. government,” adding that as a paid operative of ISI, Fai did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistan while he met with U.S. elected officials, funded high-profile conferences and promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.
Casting a light upon some of the details of Fai’s scheme,the DOJ said in a statement that to prevent the Justice Department, FBI, Department of Treasury and the IRS from learning the source of the money he received from officials employed by the government of Pakistan and the ISI, Fai made a series of false statements and representations, according to court documents.
“For example, Fai told FBI agents in March 2007 that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI and, in May 2009, he falsely denied to the IRS on a tax return for the KAC that the KAC had received any money from foreign sources in 2008,” the DOJ said.
Labels: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Indo-Pak ties, Inter-Services Intelligence, Kashmiri-origin U.S. citizen, Pak-U.S. ties, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, tax violations
Saturday, November 05, 2011
U.S. man charged with plot to bomb Pentagon
From The Hindu
While drone strikes have thus far been the bane of militants residing in the remote tribal belt of Pakistan, this week they were almost deployed to take out the Pentagon and the Capitol.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on Wednesday that Rezwan Ferdaus (26), a U.S. citizen from Ashland, Massachusetts, had been charged in connection with a plot to destroy the key federal government buildings using large radio-controlled F-86 Sabre aircraft filled with what he thought was C-4 plastic explosive.
Ferdaus, said to be a graduate of Northeastern University, was also charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda with the aim of facilitating attacks on U.S. soldiers overseas; attempting to destroy national defence premises; and attempting to destroy buildings owned by the U.S. using explosives.
According to a cooperating witness in an apparent sting operation by the FBI, Ferdaus stated in January 2011 that he planned to attack the Pentagon using aircraft similar to “small drone airplanes” filled with explosives and guided by GPS equipment.
Outlining his planned attack in chilling detail, Ferdaus told undercover officers: “With this aerial assault, we can effectively eliminate key locations of the P-building. Then we can add to it in order to take out everything else and leave one area only as a squeeze where the individuals will be isolated. They'll be vulnerable and we can dominate.”
In a statement, the FBI underscored Ferdaus' determination to execute his plan despite being presented with multiple opportunities to back out, including being told that his attack would likely kill women and children.
Instead, Ferdaus invoked the option of a Mumbai-style ground attack to complement the aerial strike, and reportedly told federal agents that once he isolated individuals in the two buildings into “one area only as a squeeze,” he would ensure that a six-man team armed with assault rifles would “open up on them” and “keep firing” to create “chaos” and “take out” everyone.
As part of the operation, conducted by more than 30 federal, state, and local agencies on the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, agents supplied Ferdaus with an unspecified amount of “C-4 explosives,” an F-86 small drone aircraft, three grenades and six fully-automatic AK-47 assault rifles. In the course of the investigation, Ferdaus also delivered eight detonation devices to the undercover officers and a training video demonstrating how to make cell phone detonators.
At his final meeting with officers on Wednesday at which Ferdaus inspected the components, brought them to his storage unit and took possession of the entire inventory, he was arrested, the FBI said in a statement. It added that at no point in time was the public in any danger from explosive devices, which were controlled by undercover FBI employees.
No community targeted
Prosecuting officials were quick to dispel any notion that the sting operation against Ferdaus had targeted any larger community. U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said: “I want the public to understand that Mr. Ferdaus' conduct, as alleged in the complaint, is not reflective of a particular culture, community, or religion.”
If convicted, Ferdaus faces a total of up to 55 years in prison for all three charges and a $250,000 fine.
Labels: Al-Qaeda, Capitol, drone attack, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, GPS equipment, Pentagon, terrorist attack
Thursday, October 21, 2010
U.S. didn't warn India despite ‘information & concerns'
From The Hindu
The United States had “information and concerns” on the terror-related activities of the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind David Coleman Headley, based on communications received from his spouses. However the U.S. did not provide India with full information or a stronger warning due to a lack of “specific information.”
At a press briefing this week, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that regarding the nature of the information provided to U.S. authorities by Headley's wives, “there was concern expressed by both spouses at the same time,” although the information “was not specific.”
He added that had the U.S. possessed specific information on Headley, it would have provided it to the Indian government beforehand. However the information received did not detail a “time or place of the attack.”
In particular, Mr. Crowley acknowledged that the U.S. law enforcement authorities held two meetings with one of Headley's spouses in late 2007 and early 2008, during which she provided information that was followed up on and relayed to the relevant agencies across the U.S. government.
Commenting on the U.S.' slow response to the information, Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, told The Hindu, “Many officials in the U.S. government responsible for Pakistan policy often failed in the past to understand the close links between Pakistan-based terrorist groups targeting India and those that target the West.”
Ms. Curtis said that rather than viewing the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror outfit Headley was said to have been trained with, on par with the Al-Qaeda, U.S. officials tended to see it only through an Indo-Pakistani lens.
“Not specific”
When Mr. Crowley was asked whether the information provided by Headley's spouses did not mention that he was involved with the LeT, implying that this would have provided a clue about whether Indian targets would be involved, Mr. Crowley only repeated, “There was no specific information as to who he was associated with or what they were planning to do.”
Mr. Crowley's comments came even as reports emerged on Monday that in his statements to Indian authorities in June Headley admitted that the Pakistan spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, had been “deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city.”
The Associated Press quoted a secret U.S. government report on Headley's interrogation as saying, “According to Headley, every big action of the LeT is done in close coordination with the ISI.”
Mr. Crowley said the U.S. had been pressing Pakistan to take more aggressive action inside its borders to deal with a threat that was of concern to the U.S. and the region.
In the context of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in Washington this week, he added, “Clearly, this is an ongoing threat and more needs to be done. That will be among the issues talked about during this week's Strategic Dialogue.”
However with regard to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, Ms. Curtis cautioned that legal issues could arise in the event that direct ISI links were made to the Mumbai attacks, which also killed six U.S. citizens.
She said, “From a policy perspective, there could be major blowback on the Obama administration if it is perceived as stifling information related to a terrorist incident in which U.S. citizens were murdered.”
There were also questions being raised whether the U.S. authorities had failed to follow up on terrorism leads associated with Headley “because it could potentially implicate Pakistan's intelligence service, with whom the Central Intelligence Agency is closely working,” Ms. Curtis, formerly with the CIA, said.
The United States had “information and concerns” on the terror-related activities of the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind David Coleman Headley, based on communications received from his spouses. However the U.S. did not provide India with full information or a stronger warning due to a lack of “specific information.”
At a press briefing this week, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that regarding the nature of the information provided to U.S. authorities by Headley's wives, “there was concern expressed by both spouses at the same time,” although the information “was not specific.”
He added that had the U.S. possessed specific information on Headley, it would have provided it to the Indian government beforehand. However the information received did not detail a “time or place of the attack.”
In particular, Mr. Crowley acknowledged that the U.S. law enforcement authorities held two meetings with one of Headley's spouses in late 2007 and early 2008, during which she provided information that was followed up on and relayed to the relevant agencies across the U.S. government.
Commenting on the U.S.' slow response to the information, Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, told The Hindu, “Many officials in the U.S. government responsible for Pakistan policy often failed in the past to understand the close links between Pakistan-based terrorist groups targeting India and those that target the West.”
Ms. Curtis said that rather than viewing the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror outfit Headley was said to have been trained with, on par with the Al-Qaeda, U.S. officials tended to see it only through an Indo-Pakistani lens.
“Not specific”
When Mr. Crowley was asked whether the information provided by Headley's spouses did not mention that he was involved with the LeT, implying that this would have provided a clue about whether Indian targets would be involved, Mr. Crowley only repeated, “There was no specific information as to who he was associated with or what they were planning to do.”
Mr. Crowley's comments came even as reports emerged on Monday that in his statements to Indian authorities in June Headley admitted that the Pakistan spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, had been “deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city.”
The Associated Press quoted a secret U.S. government report on Headley's interrogation as saying, “According to Headley, every big action of the LeT is done in close coordination with the ISI.”
Mr. Crowley said the U.S. had been pressing Pakistan to take more aggressive action inside its borders to deal with a threat that was of concern to the U.S. and the region.
In the context of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in Washington this week, he added, “Clearly, this is an ongoing threat and more needs to be done. That will be among the issues talked about during this week's Strategic Dialogue.”
However with regard to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, Ms. Curtis cautioned that legal issues could arise in the event that direct ISI links were made to the Mumbai attacks, which also killed six U.S. citizens.
She said, “From a policy perspective, there could be major blowback on the Obama administration if it is perceived as stifling information related to a terrorist incident in which U.S. citizens were murdered.”
There were also questions being raised whether the U.S. authorities had failed to follow up on terrorism leads associated with Headley “because it could potentially implicate Pakistan's intelligence service, with whom the Central Intelligence Agency is closely working,” Ms. Curtis, formerly with the CIA, said.
Labels: 26/11, David Headley, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, mumbai terror
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