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PrintKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Five associates of a Missouri-based Islamic charity have been indicted on charges that they illegally sent money to Iraq, the U.S. attorney's office announced Wednesday.
The five men associated with the Columbia-based Islamic American Relief Agency-USA are charged in a 33-count indictment (pdf) that alleges they stole government and public money and falsely represented their fundraising goals to the public. A federal grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday and it was unsealed Wednesday.
The men charged are Mubark Hamed, 50, of Columbia, who served as executive director of the agency; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, formerly of Columbia, now Iowa City, Iowa, a former board member; Ahmad Mustafa, 54, of Columbia, a former fundraiser; Khalid Al-Sudanee, 55, of Jordan, the regional director of IARA's Middle East office and Abdel Azim El-Siddiq, 50, Palos Heights, Ill., former IARA vice president.
In 2004, federal agents raided the group's headquarters, as part of a criminal investigation. The charity's assets were later frozen and IARA lost a recent bid to have its assets unfrozen.
Three of the five were in custody Wednesday, said U.S. Attorney Bradley J. Schlozman.
Mustafa and Hamed were arrested Wednesday and both were arraigned in Jefferson City. Bagegni was arrested in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
El-Siddiq was expected to be arrested later Wednesday in Illinois.
Al-Sudanee was being sought in Jordan.
The men are charged with illegally transferring $1.4 million to Iraq from March 1991 to May 2003.
The charity has denied the allegations that it has financed terrorism and has repeatedly tried to distinguish itself from the Islamic African Relief Agency, a Sudanese group suspected of financing al-Qaida. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled last month that the link was legitimate.
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