National Review
Senate investigation finds Obama administrator is al-Qaeda affiliate known to be funded
The non-profit humanitarian agency World Vision United States negotiated improperly with the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) in 2014, with the approval of the Obama administration, sending government funds to an organization that had been sanctioned for its links to terrorism, according to with a new report. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) recently released a report detailing the results of an investigation that his team began in February 2019 on the relationship between World Vision and ISRA. The investigation found that World Vision did not know that ISRA had been sanctioned by the United States since 2004, after channeling about $ 5 million to Maktab al-Khidamat, the predecessor of Al-Qaeda controlled by Osama Bid Laden. However, this ignorance was born out of insufficient verification practices, the report said. “World Vision works to help people in need around the world, and that work is admirable,” said Grassley in a statement. “Although I didn’t know that ISRA was on the sanctions list or because of its affiliation with terrorism, I should have known. Ignorance is not enough as an excuse. World Vision’s changes in verification practices are a good first step and I look forward to your continued progress. The investigation was initiated by a July 2018 National Review article in which Sam Westrop, director of the Islamic Observatory of the Middle East Forum, detailed the MEF’s conclusions that the Obama administration had approved a “$ 200,000 grant from the contributor to ISRA ”. Government officials specifically authorized the release of “at least $ 115,000” from this grant, even after learning that it was a designated terrorist organization, wrote Westrop. Senate Report, World Vision submitted a grant application to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to carry out its Blue Nile Recovery Program on January 21, 2014. The proposed program aimed to provide food security, health equipment, sanitation and health services for areas hard hit by the conflict in the Blue Nile region of Sudan. USAID provided World Vision with a $ 723,405 grant for the program. The following month, ISRA agreed to provide humanitarian services to parts of the Blue Nile Region for World Vision, according to the report. The two organizations also collaborated on several projects in 2013 and 2014. World Vision only discovered that ISRA was sanctioned after the evangelical non-profit humanitarian organization discussed the partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a separate humanitarian project. in Sudan. Upon conducting a routine check of World Vision and its partners, the IOM discovered ISRA’s sanctioned status and contacted the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Compliance Team to confirm. After receiving confirmation from OFAC, IOM rejected World Vision’s offer to collaborate, report says. The World Vision legal department was notified of the potential status of ISRA as a sanctioned entity in September 2014 and immediately suspended all payments to the organization while investigating. The non-profit organization sent a letter to OFAC on 19 November 2014, asking for clarification on the status of ISRA, and requesting that, in the event ISRA is sanctioned, a temporary license is granted to terminate the organizations’ existing contract. Two months later, the Treasury responded, confirming that ISRA is sanctioned and denying the application for a license to work with the organization, as this would be “inconsistent with OFAC policy”. A month later, World Vision submitted another application for a license to negotiate with ISRA to pay them $ 125,000 for services rendered, so that they would not face legal consequences and possible expulsion from Sudan. On May 4, 2015, the State Department of the Obama administration recommended that OFAC grant World Vision’s application for a license to conduct transactions. The following day, OFAC granted the license to pay ISRA $ 125,000 for services rendered and later sent the nonprofit a “warning letter” stating that its collaboration with ISRA appeared to have violated the Global Sanction Regulations against Terrorism. investigation “found no evidence that World Vision intentionally attempted to circumvent US sanctions through partnership with ISRA.” “We also found no evidence that World Vision knew that ISRA was a sanctioned entity before receiving notification from the Treasury,” adds the report. “However, based on the evidence presented, we concluded that World Vision had access to appropriate public information and should know how, but failed, to properly examine ISRA as a sub-donor, resulting in the transfer of US taxpayer dollars to an organization with an extensive history of supporting terrorist organizations [sic] and terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden. ”The report calls on the World Vision system to veto potential sub-grantees as“ borderline negligent ”and says the organization“ ignored elementary-level investigative procedures ”. World Vision spent weeks after being informed by the IOM about the sanction status of ISRA investigating the claim and was unable to reach a conclusion, based on “what could only be described as a flawed logic”, says the report. The report accuses World Vision of trying to avoid guilt and notes that the IOM “was able to quickly examine ISRA and determine its status as a sanctioned entity.” “If World Vision had employed the same due diligence and similar methods employed by the IOM , taxpayer dollars would not have exchanged hands with an organization that is known to finance terrorist organizations, “the document said. Although World Vision has instituted additional screening methods,” the Finance Committee team has reservations “about its ability to avoid similar situations in the future, says the report. “World Vision has a duty to ensure that funds acquired from the United States government or donated by Americans do not end up supporting terrorist activities,” he says. “Particularly worrying for this Committee is the World Vision’s attempt to shift the blame to the federal government for its own inability to properly examine a subcontractor. A more robust and fundamentally sound screening and verification system is needed to restore public confidence that contributions made to World Vision are not funding illicit organizations. ” were used by ISRA for humanitarian purposes, that money inevitably helps their terrorist activities ”, he concludes. World Vision said in a statement that “it takes our compliance obligations seriously and shares the goal of Sen. Grassley and the staff of the good management committee”. We appreciate the recognition that the committee’s report to the president ‘found no evidence that World Vision knew that ISRA was a sanctioned entity before receiving notification from the Treasury, ”he added. “Terrorism goes against everything that World Vision represents as an organization and we strongly condemn any act of terrorism or support for such activities.”