Somalia says thousands and thousands seized from Al Shabaab financial institution accounts
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Mogadishu (AX) – Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud introduced that the federal authorities would publicly disclose thousands and thousands of {dollars} of funds al-Shabaab had parked in financial institution accounts closed by the authorities.
President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud stated Sunday by way of state media that the seizure is an essential a part of the authorities’s battle towards al-Shabaab.
“The government will soon reveal many accounts that Al-Shabaab used to collect money from closed banks. Many transfer phones have been taken out of service,” stated President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab armed group on Saturday launched a video message that appeared to threaten Somali banks and companies after Somalia’s federal parliament lately accepted a monetary sanctions invoice.
Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage Ali Dheere stated the us authorities was secretly pushing the invoice to grab the property of Somali firms and businessmen.
“It is a plan that the United States government has worked hard to prepare and force the Somali government to implement. You should remember when the United States froze the property of the Somali people in 2001 and claimed that they were financing terrorism, even though Al-Shabaab did not exist then.”
Dheere was referring to the us authorities’s seizure of Al-Barakaat’s property in 2001 after the 9/11 terror assaults, in what it stated was a transfer to give up funding for extremists.
“After decades, they admitted that those accusations were false, but until today, the property that belonged to the Somali people has not been returned to them. The people are in need, and the infidels still have the money, which they have used.” Al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Dheere stated.
Barakat – a Somali commercial enterprise conglomerate – was eliminated from the UN sanctions listing in 2012, and the us eliminated it from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listing completely in February 2020.
The spokesman warned banks to not share consumer data with the Somali authorities, saying al Shabaab is aware of of overseas banks that desire to open branches in Somalia.
“We are saying to the Somali banks operating in the country; no one will accept you sharing the information of Muslim people who have entrusted you with their property to the (Somali) government,” he added.
The Al-Shabaab spokesman’s speech comes because the Somali authorities lately closed all recognized monetary financial institution accounts linked to the militants.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre stated the authorities shut down about 250 militant-linked accounts in 4 banks and disabled about 70 cellphones that the militants used solely to switch cash.
