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| Europe |
| Swiss suspend al-Qaeda probe |
| 2005-06-02 |
| Swiss prosecutors said Wednesday that they had suspended a three-and-a-half-year investigation into a Swiss-based Egyptian businessman, Youssef Nada, who was suspected of having financial ties with Al Qaeda. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court last month ordered the federal prosecutor's office to decide by the end of May to either press charges or suspend the procedure. "We haven't dropped the case; it has been suspended," said a spokesman for the Swiss federal prosecutor's office, Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer. He added that the case could be reactivated at any time if new evidence emerged. The authorities did not provide details on why the investigation into Al Taqwa Management Organization, which was renamed Nada Management Organization, had been stopped. The United States accused the company of helping fund Osama bin Laden's terror network. The company has been under investigation since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Company officials repeatedly denied having links to terrorism and accused the Swiss authorities of taking part in a U.S.-led anti-Muslim campaign. The company, which operated on Islamic principles, was based in the southern canton of Ticino until being liquidated in December 2001. Al Taqwa organization was founded in 1988 by Nada and his Syrian-born associate, Ali Himmat. The Swiss authorities blocked the accounts of the company and the personal accounts of board members, and Liechtenstein froze the accounts of an affiliate firm, the fiduciary company Asat Trust. But the prosecutor's office never filed charges or made arrests. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 I guess the Swiss finally came to the conclusion that they were funding the political wing of Hamas. Europeans are soooo much smarter than us, I'm suprised it took them 3-1/2 years to botch the case,they probably could have let them off the hook in a lot less time than that. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-06-02 16:56 |
| #1 typical Swiss, aiding and abeting mass murderers. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-06-02 16:51 |