Former Congressman Mark D. Siljander, R-Mich, has been in indicted by a Kansas City Grand Jury for sending money to a Afghan Terrorist with ties to Al-Qaida & Taliban. The indictment returned early this afternoon also accuses the former Congressman of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.These new charges were added to an earlier indictment that charged the Islamic American Relief Agency, along with several of its officers, with sending money to Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign of terror in violation of U.S. Sanctions.
According to the new charges, the now defunct charity sent $130,000 in 2003 and 2004 to bank accounts in Pakistan, allegedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned by Glubuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan Mujahideen leader. The U.S. Government designated Hekmatyar as a global terrorist in February, 2003 for his links to Al-Qaida.
Today's charges accuse the former Republican Member of Congress that served Michigan from 1981-1987 of receiving $50,000 from the charity in 2004. Siljander operates a Washington, D.C. consulting firm and was hired to lobby Congress to remove the charity from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.
