TREASURY NEWS
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

FACT SHEET
The Continuing War on Terrorist Assets

"Today we are blocking the assets of two organizations and two individuals who have been stealing from widows and orphans to fund al-Qaida terrorism. These bad actors will now be pariahs in the civilized world." -- Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill

January 9, 2002

Today's Action

• Today, the Treasury Department designated and blocked the assets of the Afghan Support Committee (ASC), the Afghanistan and Pakistan offices of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) and two individuals associated with those groups as financiers of terrorism, under the authority of Executive Order 13224. Abu Bakr Al-Jaziri is the ASC finance chief. Abd al-Muhsin Al-Libi is the Peshawar, Pakistan, office director of the RIHS and the ASC manager in Peshawar.

• While portraying themselves as legitimate charitable enterprises, the ASC and RIHS have financed and facilitated terrorism. ASC and RIHS personnel, including Al-Jaziri and Al-Libi, defrauded well-meaning contributors by diverting money donated for widows and orphans to al-Qaida terrorists.

Afghan Support Committee (ASC)

• The ASC is a non-governmental organization (NGO) established by Usama bin Laden. Abu Bakr Al-Jaziri, the finance chief of ASC also served as the head of organized fundraising for Usama bin Laden. Al-Jaziri collected funds for al-Qaida in Jalalabad through the ASC. He also collected money for al-Qaida from local Arab NGOs by claiming the funds were for orphans and widows. Al-Jaziri then turned the funds over to al-Qaida operatives. In 2000, he moved from Jalalabad to Pakistan where he continued to raise and transfer funds for al-Qaida.

Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS)

• The RIHS is a Kuwaiti-based non-governmental organization. In Pakistan and Afghanistan it is affiliated with ASC. The Peshawar, Pakistan, office director for RIHS is Abd al-Muhsin Al-Libi, who also serves as the ASC manager in Peshawar. Al-Libi has provided Usama bin Laden and his associates with facilities in Peshawar and has carried money and messages on behalf of Usama bin Laden.

• The Pakistan office defrauded RIHS donors to fund terrorism. In order to obtain additional funds from the Kuwait RIHS headquarters, the RIHS office in Pakistan padded the number of orphans it claimed to care for by providing names of orphans that did not exist or who had died. Funds then sent for the purpose of caring for the non-existent or dead orphans were instead diverted to al-Qaida terrorists. There is no evidence at this point that this financing was done with the knowledge of RIHS in Kuwait.

Summary

• The President signed Executive Order 13224 on September 23, 2001. To date, the U.S. Government has named 168 organizations and individuals as financiers of terrorism, and has blocked $34.2 million. Our coalition partners have blocked another $33.9 million. 196 nations have expressed support to disrupt terrorist financing and 144 nations have blocking orders in force.