US victims sue European banks for supporting terror
NEW YORK (AFP) - Dozens of terror attack victims have filed lawsuits in US federal court against two European banks for allegedly providing services to organisations designated as terrorist groups by the United States.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Friday that the separate lawsuits charged British banking giant National Westminster Bank Plc and France's Credit Lyonnais with maintaining accounts for financial supporters of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
NatWest is specifically accused of providing the British-based group Interpal -- the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund -- with a full range of banking services allowing it to raise funds on its website.
Interpal was put on the US list of designated terrorist organisations in 2003.
The second suit alleged that Credit Lyonnais provided similar services to the French-based Committee for Palestinian Charity and Aid (CPSB), which was also put on the US terror list the same year.
"America can't allow banks to do business in this country while providing financial services to Specially Designated Global Terrorists overseas," said Gary Osen, one of the lead lawyers for the US families of terror victims who filed the lawsuits in New York and New Jersey.
"When it passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, Congress recognized the threat posed by terrorism financing and it enacted legislation to prevent exactly this kind of alleged conduct," Osen said.
NatWest said in a statement that the charges were "without merit" and noted that the British Charity Commission had investigated allegations of Interpal connections to Hamas in 1996 and 2003 and both times "found no evidence of wrongdoing" on the part of the charity.
A spokesman for Credit Lyonnais -- purchased in 2004 by Credit Agricole and renamed LCL -- insisted that the bank had "severed" all links with CPSB in 2003 in a move initiated before the organisation was placed on the US terror list.
Once the US Treasury Department formally designates a foreign organisation as a terrorist entity, it is illegal for any person or financial institution in the United States to hold money or provide financial services to that entity.
"For me, it's about accountability," said Sarri Singer, who was injured in a Jerusalem bus bombing in June, 2003, and is one of the plaintiffs in the suit against NatWest.
"No bank should be helping to transfer money to terrorists who maim and murder American citizens," Singer said. "People should not be able to collect frequent flyer miles using their credit cards to donate to organizations that our government officially designates as terrorists."
In a statement, the chairman of Interpal, Ibrahim Hewitt, stressed that his organisation had been "given a clean bill of health" by the Charity Commission in Britain.
Hewitt also pointed to the apology won last year in an out of court settlement from The Board of Deputies of British Jews (BOD) which had labelled Interpal a terrorist organisation.
"It was always likely that the Zionist lobby would try to hit back at Interpal after the defeat in the BOD case," he said, referring to the lawsuit in New York.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Friday that the separate lawsuits charged British banking giant National Westminster Bank Plc and France's Credit Lyonnais with maintaining accounts for financial supporters of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
NatWest is specifically accused of providing the British-based group Interpal -- the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund -- with a full range of banking services allowing it to raise funds on its website.
Interpal was put on the US list of designated terrorist organisations in 2003.
The second suit alleged that Credit Lyonnais provided similar services to the French-based Committee for Palestinian Charity and Aid (CPSB), which was also put on the US terror list the same year.
"America can't allow banks to do business in this country while providing financial services to Specially Designated Global Terrorists overseas," said Gary Osen, one of the lead lawyers for the US families of terror victims who filed the lawsuits in New York and New Jersey.
"When it passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, Congress recognized the threat posed by terrorism financing and it enacted legislation to prevent exactly this kind of alleged conduct," Osen said.
NatWest said in a statement that the charges were "without merit" and noted that the British Charity Commission had investigated allegations of Interpal connections to Hamas in 1996 and 2003 and both times "found no evidence of wrongdoing" on the part of the charity.
A spokesman for Credit Lyonnais -- purchased in 2004 by Credit Agricole and renamed LCL -- insisted that the bank had "severed" all links with CPSB in 2003 in a move initiated before the organisation was placed on the US terror list.
Once the US Treasury Department formally designates a foreign organisation as a terrorist entity, it is illegal for any person or financial institution in the United States to hold money or provide financial services to that entity.
"For me, it's about accountability," said Sarri Singer, who was injured in a Jerusalem bus bombing in June, 2003, and is one of the plaintiffs in the suit against NatWest.
"No bank should be helping to transfer money to terrorists who maim and murder American citizens," Singer said. "People should not be able to collect frequent flyer miles using their credit cards to donate to organizations that our government officially designates as terrorists."
In a statement, the chairman of Interpal, Ibrahim Hewitt, stressed that his organisation had been "given a clean bill of health" by the Charity Commission in Britain.
Hewitt also pointed to the apology won last year in an out of court settlement from The Board of Deputies of British Jews (BOD) which had labelled Interpal a terrorist organisation.
"It was always likely that the Zionist lobby would try to hit back at Interpal after the defeat in the BOD case," he said, referring to the lawsuit in New York.
posted by Marko at 1/06/2006 05:10:00 PM
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