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
Sunday, April 24, 2011
ISI sees LeT as strategic asset against India: U.S. Congress
From The Hindu
The use of terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence came in for a lambasting at the House of Representatives during a hearing yesterday on foreign policy priorities and needs amidst economic challenges in South Asia.
In a well-attended hearing at the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill, members of Congress pressed top Obama administration officials on the core question of why, after $20 billion had been pumped into Pakistan over the last decade and over a billion dollars had been supplied under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, anti-American sentiment in Pakistan was still so strong.
Putting it bluntly, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Chabot, Republican of Ohio, said, “The question is basically we spent all this money and they still hate us. What should we do about that?”
Congressman Chabot also added that despite efforts “The fact remains that Pakistani and U.S. strategic interests diverge on certain issues – especially those concerning Islamist terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the Pakistani ISI continues to view as a strategic asset vis-a-vis India.”
Mr. Chabot also said that “years of Pakistani mistrust of the U.S. has resulted in a relationship in which cooperation on certain issues is often accompanied by obstruction on others,” adding that the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 was supposed to convey to Pakistan that the U.S. interest is in a strategic partnership and not just a transactional relationship.
Congressman Gary Ackerman, Democrat of New York, said in a similar vein that the U.S. itself had “failed India” in that it had not used its diplomatic leadership and agenda-setting capability to “focus global attention to the threat to India from Pakistan-based terrorists, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, that continue to raise money from all over the world.”
Contrarily Mr. Ackerman said that the U.S.’ relations with India were still too narrow and shallow, and “Some of the responsibility is ours, some is theirs.” In particular Congressman Ackerman noted that on the economic side “There is still too much opportunity being lost to outdated rules, regulations and laws limiting the attractiveness and accessibility of India as a destination for business and investment.”
Responding to some of the questions from the panel Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, highlighted the State Department’s optimism regarding the recent resumption of talks between India and Pakistan and the demonstration of good will by both sides.
He had positive words especially for the fact that “Both countries made important strides during the home secretary talks last week by agreeing to set up a hotline between their two governments to share information about the threats of terrorism and to share and facilitate the work of commissions investigating terrorist attacks.”
Mr. Blake also underscored the growing importance of trade and investment in boosting the bilateral relationship, explaining that during President Barack Obama’s visit to India last November, trade deals in excess of $14.9 billion in total value were announced, “with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content supporting almost 54,000 jobs.”
Contrary to some recent statements emanating from Congress regarding U.S. jobs lost to outsourcing by Indian companies, Mr. Blake noted that India was also “among the fastest-growing sources of investment into the U.S.” and in the last decade, investment capital coming from India to the U.S. grew at an annualised rate of 53 per cent, touching $4.4 billion in 2009.
“The strategic partnership with India will remain among our top foreign policy priorities,” Mr. Blake said.
The use of terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence came in for a lambasting at the House of Representatives during a hearing yesterday on foreign policy priorities and needs amidst economic challenges in South Asia.
In a well-attended hearing at the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill, members of Congress pressed top Obama administration officials on the core question of why, after $20 billion had been pumped into Pakistan over the last decade and over a billion dollars had been supplied under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, anti-American sentiment in Pakistan was still so strong.
Putting it bluntly, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Chabot, Republican of Ohio, said, “The question is basically we spent all this money and they still hate us. What should we do about that?”
Congressman Chabot also added that despite efforts “The fact remains that Pakistani and U.S. strategic interests diverge on certain issues – especially those concerning Islamist terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the Pakistani ISI continues to view as a strategic asset vis-a-vis India.”
Mr. Chabot also said that “years of Pakistani mistrust of the U.S. has resulted in a relationship in which cooperation on certain issues is often accompanied by obstruction on others,” adding that the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 was supposed to convey to Pakistan that the U.S. interest is in a strategic partnership and not just a transactional relationship.
Congressman Gary Ackerman, Democrat of New York, said in a similar vein that the U.S. itself had “failed India” in that it had not used its diplomatic leadership and agenda-setting capability to “focus global attention to the threat to India from Pakistan-based terrorists, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, that continue to raise money from all over the world.”
Contrarily Mr. Ackerman said that the U.S.’ relations with India were still too narrow and shallow, and “Some of the responsibility is ours, some is theirs.” In particular Congressman Ackerman noted that on the economic side “There is still too much opportunity being lost to outdated rules, regulations and laws limiting the attractiveness and accessibility of India as a destination for business and investment.”
Responding to some of the questions from the panel Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, highlighted the State Department’s optimism regarding the recent resumption of talks between India and Pakistan and the demonstration of good will by both sides.
He had positive words especially for the fact that “Both countries made important strides during the home secretary talks last week by agreeing to set up a hotline between their two governments to share information about the threats of terrorism and to share and facilitate the work of commissions investigating terrorist attacks.”
Mr. Blake also underscored the growing importance of trade and investment in boosting the bilateral relationship, explaining that during President Barack Obama’s visit to India last November, trade deals in excess of $14.9 billion in total value were announced, “with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content supporting almost 54,000 jobs.”
Contrary to some recent statements emanating from Congress regarding U.S. jobs lost to outsourcing by Indian companies, Mr. Blake noted that India was also “among the fastest-growing sources of investment into the U.S.” and in the last decade, investment capital coming from India to the U.S. grew at an annualised rate of 53 per cent, touching $4.4 billion in 2009.
“The strategic partnership with India will remain among our top foreign policy priorities,” Mr. Blake said.
Labels: Indo-Pak ties, Indo-US ties, Kashmir issue, LeT. ISI, US Congress, US-Pak ties
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