US, Saudi Arabia Work to Disrupt Terrorist Financing Front Organization

The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today jointly took action to disrupt the financing and operations of Al-Furqan Foundation Welfare Trust (Al-Furqan), according to the statement of the US Department of Treasury.

 

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States and Saudi Arabia are working to stop the funding and operations of the Al-Furqan charitable organization because it poses as a front for funding terrorists groups, the US Department of Treasury announced in a statement on Tuesday.

"The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today jointly took action to disrupt the financing and operations of Al-Furqan Foundation Welfare Trust (Al-Furqan), which is the successor entity to the Afghan Support Committee (ASC) and Revival of Islamic Heritage Society branches in Pakistan and Afghanistan (RIHS-Pakistan)," the statement read.

The Treasury Department explained that ASC and RIHS-Pakistan changed their name to Al-Furgan Foundation Welfare Trust to continue funding terrorist organizations. Both organizations were placed on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list and also on the United National (UN) Al-Qaeda Sanctions List in 2002.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said they will freeze any Al-Furgan owned assets under US or Saudi jurisdictions, and will prohibit citizens from both countries doing business with the group.

“Today’s joint action reflects the strength of U.S. and Saudi cooperation on countering the financing of terrorism,” US Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin said in the statement.

“We are committed to exposing terrorist financiers, especially those who masquerade as charities,” Szubin added.

Al-Furgan has funded terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the South Asian terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, since the mid-2000s, according to the Treasury Department.