The New Anatolian of Turkey reported on February 23 2007:
Inspectors Hamza Kacar and Galip Sabuncu wrote a report in which they claimed that they had uncovered significant evidence of money movements linked to Yasin el Kadi (SDGT Sheik Yassin Al-Kadi) in Turkey, but added that their probe was blocked by certain bureaucrats and politicians.
The inspectors said that el Kadi's money movements were concentrated on Albaraka Turk, an Islamic finance institution….Kacar sent a letter to the Albaraka Turk on Nov. 5, 2003, asking the institution to whom el Kadi was making money transfers via the bank. The inspector also asked the meaning of two-letter codes in account abstracts of numerous companies of which al Kadi was a shareholder. Albaraka rejected the request and Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan forced the inspectors in early 2004 to complete their report in ten days. (http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-23456.html)
The report read in context of other information in the public domain links together a number of persons whose names have featured prominently in the counter-terrorism financing literature.
In his book "Desperately Seeking Paradise" Zianuddin Sardar ,(usually
described as a London based Muslim moderate), gives an account of how
somewhere around the time the first Gulf War was about to or had commenced, he was persuaded to fly to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of certain wealthy Saudis to receive a grant of USD 5 million that was to enable him to set-up a think tank that would put forward the Arab view.
Sardar was then in Malaysia, had reservations about making the trip, but
was persuaded to go by Anwar Ibrahim, who was then Minister
for Education but about to appointed Minister for Finance.
Sardar writes that Anwar told him to accept their invitation, for the
Saudis had been on the phone to him rather often about the matter of
the gift to Sardar.
Sardar flew to Saudi Arabia,and went on to meet Sheikh Saleh
Kamel,founder of the Al Baraka investment group.Also present at that
meeting was Anwar Ibarhim, who Sardar says had flown out separately in a Malaysian
government jet.
In September 1990 The Malaysian Ministry of Finance sold a 17.5 %
stake in Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd , Malaysia’s first Islamic bank, to JAMI Malaysia Sdn Bhd . Its shareholders were the New York-based Saar
Corporation, the Saudi-based Al Rajhi,Banking and Investment
Corporation (ARABIC) and Salah Kamel's Al Baraka Group.
The minister for finance at that point of time was Daim Zainuddin.
Bank Islam appears to have been involved in laundering funds belonging to the Third World Relief Agency; I have written about this previously in an article located at http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/2006/11/jamal_barzinji_.html
Anwar Ibahim replaced Daim Zainuddin as Minister for Finance sometime in 1991.
The company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1992 .
In May 1994 the Ministry of Finance Inc (Anwar Ibrahim) disposed of
its entire 21.14m shares in Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd to Lembaga Urusan
dan Tabung Haji and Jami Malaysia Sdn Bhd, and ceased to be a
substantial shareholder. A total of 18.46m shares were sold to Lembaga
Urusan dan Tabung Haji bringing its stake in Bank Islam to 35.70m
shares, or 26.76%. The remaining 2.89m shares were sold to Jami
Malaysia, which was at that time the registered holder of 5.27m
shares.
Jamal Barzinji, who heads the SAFA Trust which is part of the SAAR
Foundation,and who together with Anwar and others founded the
International Institute of Islamic Thought (he was at that time,as he
is now ,like Anwar a director of the IIIT)was appointed a director
of the bank and appears to have remained as one until sometime in
2003(for further details see http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/2006/11/jamal_barzinji_.html)
Later in 2002 it would be revealed in the affidavits of David Kane
that the IIIT also was funded by the SAAR Corporation and the SAFA
Trust.
That is, Anwar 's IIIT received funding from the SAAR Foundation at
the same time that he sold the SAAR Foundation the MOF's shares in
Bank Islam.
Then, in May 2006, Salah Kamel decided to float his banking assets on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. The now listed vehicle for the exercise, Al-Baraka Banking Group, (ABG) raised some US$ 580 million in what was termed one of the biggest IPO's in the Middle East.
Anwar Ibrahim was appointed and remains a member of the ABG board.( see http://www.abg.bh/English/aboutboarddirectors.htm)
In 1991, SDGT Sheik Yassin Al-Kadi and two of Anwar Ibrahim ‘s closest associates, Drs Wan Hasni Wan Sulaiman and Rahim Ghouse, formed Abrar Inc, a fund management company. This business was to take many shapes and forms, particularly after its base of operations was moved to Malaysia. These matters have been written about extensively on this site. The most recent article can be sighted at http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/20
In September 2005, shortly after his release from prison , Anwar Ibrahim visited Turkey, at the invitation of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, for meetings with amongst others, Erdogan and an adviser, Dr Ahmet Davutoglu.
The following has been said of Davutoglu:
Davutoglu has spent time in Malaysia and speaks highly of that
country's supposedly dynamic and rather unique combination of Islam,
capitalism, and democracy. It is no surprise, then, that in recent
months Erdogan has reached out to some unsavory characters in Turkey's
neighborhood, visiting President Bashar Assad in Syria earlier this
year and traveling to Tehran to meet the Iranian mullahs.
(Gerard Baker, Let's Not Talk Turkey ,The Weekly Standard,29 August 2005)
AKP politician Ahmet Davutoglu, previously a professor at the
International Islamic University in Malaysia, and now an advisor to
both Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, argues
that Turkey can remain powerful only if it utilizes the "strategic
depth" of its neighborhood, developing better ties with those Muslim
neighbors with whom it shares cultural affinity. The world is composed
of cultural blocs, he writes, and Turkey falls into the "Muslim bloc."
(Soner Cagaptay, ANKARA DISPATCH,Eastern Heading; TNR Online | Post date 09.08.04)
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