Terror Watch: Antiterror Victory?

Earlier this month, however, Swiss authorities disappointed Washington when Nicati's office confirmed that it had decided that it had insufficient evidence to refer to the criminal tribunal a long-running investigation of another allegedly major terrorism finance network called Al-Taqwa, based in the Bahamas and the southern Swiss city of Lugano. Al-Taqwa, numerous related companies, and several of the network's principals, including Al-Taqwa's elderly Egyptian founder, Youssef Nada, were all officially "designated" terrorist financers by the United States and U.N. in 2001 and 2002.

The federal criminal court had given prosecutors a deadline of May 31 to either refer the Al-Taqwa case to magistrates for further investigation or close the long-running investigation. Wiedmer said that prosecutors concluded they had insufficient evidence to send the case to the criminal court. However, while prosecutors informed Nada and his lawyers that the file had been closed, Wiedmer told NEWSWEEK the Al-Taqwa investigation had only been "suspended" and that prosecutors could reopen their investigation if new evidence surfaces.

The Swiss prosecutors' decision to press ahead for a judicial investigation--and possible eventual criminal trial--of Kadi, however, is likely to please Bush administration officials, who went out of their way to declassify intelligence information on Kadi to help the Swiss build their case against the Saudi. According to a Nov. 29, 2001, letter to Nicati from David Aufhauser, then the U.S. Treasury Department's general counsel, U.S. officials "have a reasonable basis to believe that Mr. Kadi has a long history of financing and facilitating the activities of terrorists and terrorist-related organizations, often acting through seemingly legitimate charitable enterprises and businesses." Among the specific terrorist organizations that the letter accuses Kadi of supporting are the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The letter also says that a now-defunct charity that Kadi admits founding, the Muwafaq ("Blessed Relief") Foundation, provided logistical and financial support for assorted Islamic militants, including a group that later became part of Al Qaeda. But, while the accusations in the Aufhauser letter have spawned multiple investigations in the United States and elsewhere, none have yet led to any criminal cases. So far, the Swiss case seems to have progressed further than any other investigations involving Kadi.

Terror Watch, written by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball appears online weekly

© 2005