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| Fai pleads guilty in US Kashmir scheme |
| 2011-12-08 |
| An American accused of being an agent for Pakistain pleaded guilty Wednesday to hiding that government's involvement in a decades-long effort to funnel money to Washington to push the Kashmiri cause, US officials said. Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, was placed in long-term storage in July and charged with conspiracy for his role in the scheme that used at least $3.5 million from the Pak government to lobby US politicians and aides to support Pakistain's desire for self-determination for Kashmiris, the US Justice Department said. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax violations in connection with the scheme, which involved the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), a Washington-based non-government group founded in 1990, and whose Washington office he directs. The United States says the KAC was secretly funded by officials employed by the government of Pakistain, including the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). "For the last 20 years, Mr Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pak intelligence and lied about it to the US government," US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. "As a paid operative of ISI, he did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistain while he met with US elected officials, funded high-profile conferences and promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington." Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, it is illegal for agents of foreign governments to seek to influence US policy or law without fully disclosing their identity and any underlying information. |
| Posted by:Fred |