Saudi businessman Yasin Al-Qadi started the process of filing a lawsuit in Washington Sunday claiming that he has been wrongfully accused by the Bush administration of financing terrorism, leading to the freezing of his assets. Al-Qadi, 53, decided to move to the court after his assets in the US were ordered frozen and American investors were banned from dealing with him. “I want everyone to know that I have never ever supported terrorism. All the accusations against me were false and in violation of the constitutional provisions of the US since there has never been any proof against me,” said Al-Qadi. In the aftermath of 9/11, the US Treasury Department alleged that the Muwafaq Foundation, once headed by Al-Qadi, “has been identified as an Al-Qaeda front funded by wealthy Saudi businessmen.” The US Treasury Department, according to Al-Qadi, was “ordered” to draw up a list of persons involved in supporting Al-Qaeda and was put under “political pressure” by the Bush administration to include as many names as possible. Engineered by David Aufhauser, US Treasury Department's general counsel, Al-Qadi said, “The US Treasury Department drew up a long list of people without having any substantial proof against some of them, just before Bish announced his ‘war on terror,'” he said. The Bush administration used the list as justification for the UN to freeze his assets and to taint his reputation around the world, he added. Since 2001, UN Security Council resolutions, such as 1267 and 1333, legally require nations everywhere – including Turkey – to “freeze without delay” Al-Qadi's “assets,” “funds” and “economic resources.” Al-Qadi, however, decided to defend himself in court in Turkey and Europe. Swiss criminal investigation into him was ultimately dropped, and the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice in 2008 gave a non-binding opinion recommending Al-Qadi's asset freezed in Europe be set aside. “Since the issuing of the decision by the European Court of Justice, all my personal, business and charity activities have been cleared of any terror-linked suspicions. It is also clear that I never supported Osama Bin Laden or Al-Qaeda,” he said. Al-Qadi said “I was a victim of a financial Guantanamo at the hands of the unjust Bush administration with its baseless accusations.” The UN has a process in place that allows for challenges and delisting, but the decision to freeze his assets, he said, was supposed to be temporary, but it has become permanent thanks to the support of Bush administration. “The Bush administration denied me the right to have access to the data and information that it used to justify its decision to put my name on the Treasury Department list,” said Al-Qadi. “At the time, American public opinion supported the administration and a lot of Saudi and American citizens were misled,” he added. “The new American administration should be better and more interested in justice. At least this is what we all hope for,” he said. “Saudi and American citizens should cooperate to fight terrorists whether they are here in the Kingdom or in America. However, the American administration should be accurate in the decisions that it takes, and this is what we are expecting from the new Obama administration,” said Al
