Yassin Kadi

[3][4][5] The UN placed sanctions against Kadi in 1999 and 2000, when he was named by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1333 as a suspected associate of Osama bin Laden's terror network, al-Qaeda.

[20][needs update] In October 2012, the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda granted Kadi's petition to be removed from its blacklist.

[2] He helped the firm develop a master plan and contract documentation for the Mecca Campus of the King Abdulaziz University.

"We devised systems of leasing and ways to borrow money" that could be used by pious Muslims, who are not allowed to charge interest, Kadi told the Chicago Tribune.

[26][31] The charity was incorporated as a trust on the island of Jersey, an off-shore tax haven located near the coast of Normandy, France.

[37] According to Victor D. Comras, "Al Kadi is believed to have acted swiftly after 9/11 to restructure many of his business interests and, while retaining actual control, placed many of his own assets into the hands of nominal managers and directors.

[42] In 1991, Kadi loaned $820,000 to the Quranic Literacy Institute (QLI) of Oak Lawn, IL, a group formed to disseminate the Koran and Muslim texts but later allegedly linked to Hamas.

[2] Kadi said the money was intended to allow the institute to make a land investment, which would yield profits that would support its charitable work.

Saudi Arabia "supported the addition of the Jeddah-based terrorist financier, Yasin al-Qadi, to the UN's consolidated list in October 2001," according to an official press release of the U.S.

"But it has made public a dense labyrinth of associations and business and personal ties that it says establishes Mr. Kadi’s relationship with Mr. bin Laden and his allies.

"[7] "The post-911 credo became one of pre-emption and acting on suspicion," says Marieke DeGoede in her 2012 book Speculative Security: The Politics of Pursuing Terrorist Monies.

OFAC uses its new powers to freeze assets "during the pendancy of an investigation," which means, effectively, that the government is able to stop the operations of charities suspected of being terrorist fronts "without any formal determination of wrongdoing.

"I don’t have any connection, be it close or distant, with Al-Qaeda or its leader Bin Laden, either directly or indirectly," he told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, in an interview.

"[60][61] On 15 August 2002, firefighters, rescue workers and more than 600 relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks filed a $116 trillion lawsuit against Osama bin Laden, the Saudi Bin Laden Group, three Saudi princes, the government of Sudan, seven international banks, eight Islamic foundations, charities and subsidiaries, and many other defendants.

It considered Kadi's "relationship with and financial transfers to, designated terrorists Abdul Latif Saleh, Wa'el Julaidan, and Chariq Ayadi -- who were all involved in Muwafaq.

"[71] According to OFAC's findings, "Muwafaq gave logistical and financial support to Al-Gama'at Al-Islamiya, a mujahadin battalion in Bosnia that was designated as SGDT on October 31, 2001.

"[72] OFAC found that Muwafaq "was involved in arms trafficking from Albania to Bosnia," and concluded that "as of late 2001, Kadi had continued to finance institutions and organizations in the Balkans after Muwafaq had ceased operations there, including two entities that were designated as SDGTs in early 2002 -- the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society's Pakistan and Afghanistan offices, and the Bosnia-Herzegovina branch of the Al-Haramain Foundation.

"[73] On 27 March 2006, an extraordinary prosecutor appointed to investigate the matter concluded that Kadi's allegations were baseless and dismissed the action, finding that there was no evidence that Brisard or his assistants had improperly passed on information to Nicati.

[69] The Federal Criminal Court in Berne, Switzerland, "cleared Al-Qadi of any wrongdoing in a case stemming from the 9/11 attacks," his lawyers announced on 12 December 2005.

The charges had alleged that Kadi gave money in 1998 ostensibly to construct student housing at Al-Iman University in Yemen while knowing that the funds may have ended up supporting Al-Qaeda's plan to attack New York City.

[75] "I am very happy to know that my friend Al-Qadi has been cleared of all charges by the Swiss court," Zuhair Fayez, a Jeddah-based architect, told Arab News on 25 December.

[75] On 13 December 2007, based on the results of its own six-year investigation, a Swiss court removed Kadi from the country's list of blocked terrorists.

[59] On 22 October 2008, Martin Scheinin, in a report to the United Nations Security Council, suggested greater openness and transparency for making known the reasons individuals and organizations were being sanctioned.

Kadi raised "constitutional claims regarding due process, free speech, and protection from unreasonable seizure of assets.

"[78] On 30 September 2010, the EU General Court once again ruled in favor of Kadi, "noting that the UN procedure, despite improvements in the establishment of an Ombudsman Office to make recommendations on delisting requests, lacks fundamental due process protections, including sufficient notice of the charges and denying 'most minimal access to the evidence against him.'"

It said: "In essence the Security Council has still not deemed it appropriate to establish an independent and impartial body responsible for hearing ... decisions taken by the Sanctions Committee."

[16] Kadi was among nine defendants sued by the Lloyd's of London insurance syndicate on 8 September 2011 in a "landmark legal case against Saudi Arabia, accusing the kingdom of indirectly funding al-Qa'ida and demanding the repayment of £136m [$215 million] it paid out to victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Judge John D. Bates brushed off Kadi's claim that OFAC "simply ignored" his explanation that Muwafaq was an organization engaged in charitable activities.

Furthermore, reliance on newspaper articles has been permitted to 'fill in evidentiary gaps when there is corroboration,' as well as to provide background information", Bates explained in his judgement.

Therefore, the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1989 (2011) no longer apply to the following individual.