Haleel Commodities LTD, a Ugandan forex trading and money remittance company which was sanctioned by the United States for raising and funneling millions of dollars to the Somali terror group, Al Shabaab in 2019 was cleared of money laundering charges by the Ugandan courts.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Dubai-based Haleel Commodities L.L.C., also known as Haleel Group, is a key financial facilitator for al-Shabaab, which relies on the leaders of Haleel Group, as well as its branches and subsidiaries in Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Cyprus to generate and launder funds.
Haleel Group’s subsidiaries in Cyprus include Haleel Finance LTD, Haleel Holdings, and Haleel LTD; the group also has branches in Kenya (Haleel Commodities Limited) and Uganda (Haleel Commodities LTD) and operates as Haleel Electronics in Somalia.
The U.S. says Farhan Hussein Hayder (Hayder) directs and manages Haleel Group’s branches in Kenya, Uganda, Cyprus, and the UAE, and supports al-Shabaab by generating funds for the group through these businesses.
“A notable part of this network is active in Uganda. Specifically, Abdulkadir Omar Abdullahi (Abdullahi), is associated with Haleel Group’s Uganda branch as its director, along with Omar Sheikh Ali Hilowle (Hilowle) and Hayder,” said the U.S., adding, “In his role, Abdullahi has managed and transferred funds for al-Shabaab.”
“Farhan Hussein Hayder, Mohamed Jumale Ali Awale, Abdulkadir Omar Abdullahi, and Qemat Al Najah General Trading are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, al-Shabaab, a person whose property is and interest in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13224.”
Haleel Commodities is based at King Fahad Plaza in Kampala.
The company’s woes started with an investigation by the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) in 2018.
At the time, Farhan Hussein Hayder was suspected by Kenyan authorities of having links with terrorist organizations.
FIA picked interest and in May 2018 froze his company’s bank accounts pursuant to section 17A of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The companies whose accounts were frozen were Haleel Commodities Limited, Sundus Exchange, Money Transfer Ltd, Victory Group Of Companies Limited, Qemat Al Najah General Trading Limited, City Love General Trading Limited, Hilowle General Trading Limited, Jumale Bashir Ali, Omar Sheikh Ali Hilowle and Abdulkadir Omar Abdulahi.
The matter was referred to the DPP for further management.
The DPP directed the police to investigate the allegations and applied to the Anti-corruption Division court for a restraining order to freeze the accused’s accounts.
The DPP said the accused were suspected of receiving money from terrorist sources and using the same to finance terrorist activities.
As a result of the above directive, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) filed Miscellaneous Application No. 027 of 2018 before the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court seeking a freezing order against their accounts pending “investigations” into alleged money laundering and terrorism financing.
Subsequently, a Restraining Order was issued against the forex bureaus, effectively freezing their accounts since May 2018.
The state said the accused’s businesses were used as a conduit for terrorist financing.
Prosecution further argued that Sundus Exchange which is supposed to be a forex Bureau and money remittance company has suspicious transactions.
It receives money in bits from abroad and when the amounts become substantial, the funds are sent to the Haleel Commodities which distributes it to companies abroad.
The state also observed that Haleel Commodities Limited was just a collection account as opposed to a normal business account of a Forex bureau and that distributing the money amounted to money laundering. This is because it was an attempt to ‘clean’ the money making it appear legitimate.
Respondents’ case.
Kampala Associated Advocates Lawyers M/s Matsiko, Kyagaba and Dr Karuhanga made a spirited defense of the actions of the accused and asked the court to unfreeze the accounts of what they called innocent business men.
Lawyer Matsiko criticized the DPP for failing to demonstrate with evidence that there exists a reasonable belief that the frozen accounts are proceeds of crime. He submitted that there were no grounds to satisfy the court to issue the freezing order, citing an internal investigative report showing lack of incriminating evidence against the suspects.
The judge wondered how Matsiko had obtained an internal report of investigative bodies to use in the defense of his clients.
“Before I delve further, I note that there is no evidence on how this interim report ended up in the hands of the respondents. Interestingly, counsel for the respondents wrote to the police for a copy of the report on the same day the interim report was made to the director CID. There is no evidence that he was given a copy,” ruled Justice Gidudu.
KAA later filed an application for Judicial Review vide Miscellaneous Cause No. 161 of 2019 to quash the decision of the DPP to prosecute their Clients without evidence and a Complainant.
On August, 20, 2019, Justice Andrew K. Bashaijja of the High Court (Civil Division) ruled that the decision to prosecute the suspected money launderers was tainted with illegalities and ordered that the impugned decision be quashed.
After the dispute that lasted since May 2018, the businessmen’s accounts were finally unfrozen and the prosecution into their acts of money laundering was put to a halt.
The unfolding developments underscore the challenges the region has to address to combat terrorism in Somalia and beyond.
Justice Gidudu had observed in his ruling that investigations of global crimes such as terrorism, money laundering, trafficking in persons, arms trafficking and drug trafficking are mainly based on Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) between states because they are organized trans-border crimes.
“They are not domestic crimes that can be investigated by police officers interviewing suspects at their offices,” he noted.
We has learned that U.S. authorities picked interest in the matter to conduct an investigation into the companies’ terrorist financing.
A total of 3,500 African Union peacekeepers have been killed and hundreds more injured by Al Shabaab in Somalia since the forces began their work in that country in early 2007.
In 2023, Mohamed El-Amine Souef, the special representative of the chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia said troops from Burundi and Uganda suffered the most casualties.
Al-Shabaab generates over $100 million per year by extorting local businesses and individuals, as well as through the financial support of a!iliated businesspeople.
Al-Shabaab’s revenues are dispersed to other al-Qaeda-supported groups worldwide and help fund al-Qa’ida’s global ambitions to sow discord and undermine good governance.
Crown Bus
The U.S. also observed that Kenya-based Faysal Yusuf Dini (Dini) is an al-Shabaab financial facilitator who leverages Haleel Group and some of its leadership to transfer funds on behalf of al- Shabaab. He also works closely with Kenya-based Mohamed Jumale Ali Awale (Awale) to plan investment projects and money laundering activities.
“This includes managing al-Shabaab funds laundered through investment projects and companies, including through Kenya-based Crown Bus Services. Crown Bus Services has also supported al-Shabaab’s logistical operations,” said the U.S.
“Hassan Abdirahman Mahamed, a Finland-based Somali citizen, uses money transfer and hawala businesses to support al-Shabaab’s money laundering operations linked to the network of Haleel Group and Qemat Al Najah General Trading. UAE-based Mohamed Artan Robel is another member of this money laundering network supporting al-Shabaab through the Haleel Group and Qemat Al Najah General Trading. Abdikarin Farah Mohamed is a Somalia-based key member of this money laundering network.”
As a result of U.S.’ actions, all property and interests in property of the individuals and entities named and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of designated or blocked persons.
Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals designated by the U.S. entails risk of secondary sanctions.
OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
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