Al-Barakat

al-Barakat
البركات
Type Private
Industry money transfer
Founded 1986
Headquarters , Somalia

al-Barakat or al-Barakaat (Arabic: البركات‎), which means "Blessings" in Arabic, is a group of companies established in Somalia in 1986. Al-Barakat has involved itself in the modern form of hawala, an informal value transfer system, and the remittance trade. By 2001, it was operating in 40 countries and was the country's largest private employer. Al-Barakat handled about $140 million USD a year from the Somali diaspora, and also offered phone and internet services.

Contents

History

Al-Barakat first began operations in 1986, before the outbreak of the Somali civil war in 1991. It rose to prominence when hawala became the only way to transfer funds to Somalia, and remittances had become the lifeline of some of the nation's inhabitants. With no officially recognized private banking system, the remittance trade in Somalia came to be dominated by a single firm, al-Barakat.

Repercussions following September 11, 2001 attacks

The effects of anti-terrorist financing measures of the US government and other participating countries were disastrous for al-Barakat – and for Somalia which has had no recognized government or functioning state apparatus, and no formal system of banking, since 1993. After the September 11, 2001 attacks the al-Barakat network came under attack since it was suspected that hawala brokers may have helped terrorist organizations transfer money to fund terrorist activities. In 2001, the United States shut down al-Barakat Bank's overseas money remittance channel, labeling the bank "the quartermasters of terror." Despite numerous investigations, nothing was found to link al-Barakat to terrorist activities as was outlined by the 9/11 Commission. By early 2003 only four criminal prosecutions had been filed, and none involved charges of aiding terrorists. The 9/11 Commission Report has since confirmed that the bulk of the funds used to finance the assault on the twin towers were not sent through the hawala system, but rather by inter-bank wire transfer to the SunTrust Bank in Florida. Nevertheless, the al-Barakat network suffered severely, and millions of Somalis are still cut off from funds transferred to their relatives that remain frozen pending conversion of the UN blacklisting.

Guantanamo detentions

Several of the captives held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps in Cuba are held because Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) intelligence analysts asserted they had some kind of connection to al-Barakat.

Guantanamo captives held because they were allegedly tied to al-Barakat
id name notes
84 Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev
  • Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev, was a Kazakh, who JTF-GTMO analysts thought was a citizen of Uzbekistan for at least the first four years of his stay in Guantanamo.[1] He was, however, eventually returned to his real home, Kazakhstan.
  • Among the factors favoring his continued detention were that he worked as one of the "cashiers" in an office of al-Barakat in Uzbekistan run by a man named Adbuhalim Pakhrutdinov [sic]. JTF-GTMO analysts had received intelligence reports from a "foreign service" that Adbuhalim Pakhrutdinov was "a major supporter of Islamic extremist activities in Central Asia and a major financier of the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan)."
  • Repatriated and set free on December 21, 2006.[2]
567 Mohammed Sulaymon Barre
  • Mohammed Sulaymon Barre was a Somali, living in a Pakistani refugee camp, who worked for a Somalia hawala named Dahabshiil, that JTF-GTMO analysts asserted had ties to al-Barakat.[3]
  • The alleged connection between al-Qaeda and al-Barakat, and an alleged connection between al-Barakat and Barre's hawala [Dahabshiil]], was sufficient justification for his continued detention. The connection JTF-GTMO analysts asserted was that al-Barakat and Dahabshiil had shared customers and resources. Barre explained that the two hawalas were competitors, and that when al-Barakat was suspended, its former customers shifted their business to Dahabshiil.
  • It is known that Barre was still in Guantanamo when he participated in his first Administrative Review Board hearing. on September 30, 2005.[4]

Removal from the UN's terror list

In October 2009, the Swedish branch of the Somali bank-network al-Barakaat was removed from the United Nations' list of terrorist organizations. The company had been on the list for the past eight years, and had had its bank account funds frozen. According to the Swedish Public Radio broadcaster SR, the UN did not explain why it had elected to remove al-Barakat from its terror list. However, it has been suggested that the recent change in the European Union's position regarding the many organizations "that have been too easily included in the UN terror list" might have influenced the UN's position. Al-Barakat is now also able again to access its bank account funds.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 116
  2. ^ "Three ex-Guantánamo detainees free in Kazakhstan". Miami Herald. December 21, 2006. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16291392.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp. Retrieved December 21, 2006. 
  3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mohammed Sulaymon Barre's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 30-37
  4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Mohammed Sulaymon Barre's Administrative Review Board hearing - pages 144-156
  5. ^ al-Barakaat has been removed from terror list Stockholm News, October 26 2009

References