Al Barakaat
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Al-Barakat, or Al-Barakaat (), which means "Blessings" in
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, is a group of companies established in 1987 in
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
. The firm is involved in the modern form of ''
hawala Hawala or hewala ( , meaning ''transfer'' or sometimes ''trust''), originating in India as havala (), also known as in Persian, and or in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the performance and honour of a hug ...
'', an
informal value transfer system An informal value transfer system (IVTS) is any system, mechanism, or network of people that receives money for the purpose of making the funds or an equivalent value payable to a third party in another geographic location, whether or not in the ...
and
remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes ...
method. By 2001, Al-Barakat had outlets in 40 countries, and was the country's largest private employer. It handled about $140 million USD a year from the
Somali diaspora The Somali diaspora or Qurbajoogta refers to Somalis who were born in Greater Somalia and reside in areas of the world that they were not born in. The civil war in Somalia greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many Somalis moved fr ...
, and also offered phone and
internet service An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non- ...
s. After the
9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the US government listed Al-Barakat as a terrorist entity, seized its assets, and detained several people associated with the company. The firm's shut down placed an enormous strain on Somalia's economy, as a majority of residents were dependent on remittances sent by relatives based abroad. In 2006, the US and UN officially removed Al-Barakat from their blacklists, finding that there was no evidence of the company's involvement in funding of any terrorist activities. In 2014, a ceremony was held to mark the relaunching of the firm. On 12 February 2020, Barakaat Group of companies were entirely removed from the sanctions list by U.S
Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...
(OFAC). This deletion completes a long process of delistings that spanned two decades and begun at the UN Sanctions Committee to finally conclude in early 2020 at OFAC for owners, executives, and member companies of the group.


Establishment

Al-Barakat first began operations in 1987. It rose to prominence after the start of the
civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
in Somalia in 1991, when money transfer business, known as ''hawalas'', had become the only way for expat Somalis to send funds to their relatives in the absence of a formal banking system.
Ahmed Sheikh Ali Samatar Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from t ...
is a renowned computer and systems engineer who co-founded Al-Barakaat, a global money transfer and telecommunications company headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Born in Somalia, Samatar graduated from the Somali National University with a degree in computer engineering before pursuing his postgraduate studies in the United States. He completed his Master's and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at Syracuse University, where he later became a faculty member. In the early 1990s, Samatar, along with Ahmed Noor Ali Jim'ale, founded Al-Barakaat, which became one of the world's largest private money transfer and telecommunications companies. ''Hawalas'' is an ancient money transfer system, which uses gold, fuel, foodstuffs and electronics as a way of balancing the books between operators (''hawaladas'') in different nations. Migrant workers can send money home to relatives by depositing money with a local ''hawalada'', who then instructs an agent to hand over the money in the recipient's country of residence.


Post 9/11 shutdown

After the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, the effects of
anti-terrorist Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...
financing measures of the
US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...
and other participating countries were disastrous for Al-Barakat. The Al-Barakat network subsequently came under attack, as the US government claimed that ''hawala'' brokers may have helped fund terrorist activities by funneling millions of dollars from the United States to the terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda. Shortly afterwards in 2001, the US authorities shut down Al-Barakat Bank's overseas money remittance channel, labeled the bank "the quartermasters of terror", and listed it as a terrorist entity. However, despite numerous investigations, nothing was found to link Al-Barakat to terrorist activities as was outlined by the
9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, commonly known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, to investigate all aspects of the September 11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attack in world history ...
. By early 2003, only four criminal prosecutions had been filed and none involved charges of aiding
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
s. The
9/11 Commission Report ''The 9/11 Commission Report'', officially the ''Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States'', is the official report into the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was prep ...
later confirmed that the bulk of the funds used to finance the assault on the Twin Towers were not sent through the ''hawala'' system, but rather by inter-bank
wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...
to the
SunTrust Bank SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...
in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Nevertheless, the Al-Barakat network was severely impacted, and millions of Somalis were still cut off from funds transferred to their relatives that remained frozen pending conversion of the UN blacklisting. Additionally, several captives that were housed in
extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
in the
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...
s in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
were held because
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ...
(JTF-GTMO)
intelligence analysts Intelligence analysis is the application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of delibera ...
asserted that they had some kind of connection to Al-Barakat. Among these captives were
Mohammed Sulaymon Barre Mohamed Saleban Bare (known to the Pentagon as Mohammed Sulaymon Barre) () is a Somali refugee who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terror ana ...
and Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev.


Removal from the terror lists

Weaknesses in the case attempting to associate Al-Barakat with terrorist groups emerged early on, after thorough investigations were carried out in the firm's headquarters and branches. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, which was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks, cited no direct evidence that Al-Barakat was involved in terrorist funding. Additionally, the FBI agent who had led the second U.S. delegation said diligent investigation in the
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
revealed no "smoking gun" evidence — either testimonial or documentary — showing that Al-Barakat was funding AIAI or al-Qaeda. In fact, the U.S. team could find no direct evidence at all of any real link between Al-Barakat and terrorism of any type. The two major claims, that Bin Ladin was an early investor in Al-Barakat and that the firm diverted a certain portion of its money through its system to AIAI or Al-Qaeda, could not be verified. Jumale and all the Al-Barakat witnesses denied any ties to al-Qaeda or AIAI, and none of the financial evidence the investigators examined directly contradicted these claims. Moreover, some of the claims made by the early intelligence, such as the assertion that Jumale and Bin Ladin were in Afghanistan together, proved to be wrong. In October 2009, Al-Barakat's Swedish branch was removed from the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
' list of terrorist organizations. The company had been on the list for the past eight years, and had had its bank account funds frozen. According to the Swedish Public Radio broadcaster SR, the UN did not explain why it had elected to remove Al-Barakat from its terror list. However, it has been suggested that the change in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's position regarding the many organizations that were included on the UN terror list on weak grounds might have influenced the UN's position. Al-Barakat was subsequently able again to access its bank account funds. On 17 Feb 2012, all of the Al-Barakat companies were finally removed entirely. The case against the firm was also closed, as it was delisted by the UN Security Council al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. The delisting included Al-Barakat group of companies owner and CEO Mr. Ahmed Nur Jim'ale, along with all of the 17 listed entities associated with Al-Barakat Group of Companies. Among the latter were Barakat Bank of Somalia, Al-Barakat Exchange and Barakat Telecommunications Company. On 30 June 2016, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) completely removed Mr. Ahmed Nur Jim'ale from its listing and this completes the cycle of delisting process of Al Barakaat Group owner from International Sanctioning bodies. Further, on 12 February 2020, OFAC delisted All Barakaat related companies as well as the last listed executive from this group of companies Mr. KAHIE, Abdullahi Hussein.


Relaunch

In 2024, Barakaat restarted operations in Somalia focusing on Retail, Healthcare and Real Estate Sectors.


See also

*
Al Taqwa Bank The Al Taqwa Bank (occasionally Bank al Taqwa or simply Al Taqwa Newsweek. (2001)."Attacking the Money Machine". ''MSNBC.com''. Retrieved February 14, 2007. ) is a financial institution incorporated in 1988. It is based out of The Bahamas, Swi ...


References


External links


Hawala. An Informal Payment System and Its Use to Finance Terrorism by Sebastian R. Müller (Broschiert - Dez. 2006), ISBN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barakat, Al- Informal value transfer systems Companies of Somalia Companies established in 1986 Organizations based in Africa designated as terrorist 1986 establishments in Somalia