A court case is making its way through the commercial division of the UK High Court in London, which alleges Qatar funneled money to the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jibhat al-Nusra. Qatar National Bank and Doha Bank stand accused of facilitating the transactions. The UK and Qatar are close allies, and Doha Bank does business in London.
Nine unnamed Syrians filed a claim for damages against two Qatari banks, multiple charities, businessmen, politicians, civil servants, and other defendants, alleging that the Gulf state's monarch's private office was central to a scheme of illicit money transfers to Jibhat al-Nusra. The accusers are claiming damages for financial losses, torture, arbitrary detention and threats of execution at the hands of Jibhat al-Nusra. Matthew Jury, the managing partner at McCue & Partners, said: "British justice is the envy of the world, a refuge for victims to hold perpetrators of international crimes to account, and we must ensure it remains that way."
The case alleges that the conspiracy includes the Muslim Brotherhood, meetings in Turkey and money laundering. The defendants include Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's former prime minister, and Abdulhadi Mana al-Hajri, the owner of Ritz hotel in London.
In November 2020, allegations of perverting the course of justice emerged in London in the case against Doha Bank. Ben Emmerson QC, who represents four of the claimants, told the high court that interference with justice had included "harassment, intimidation, pressure, unlawful covert surveillance overseas, threatened visits by armed and masked men during the night, attempted bribery and criminal inducements". The Met police counter-terror unit investigated the allegations.
In August 2020, a courtroom transcript revealed by the Nordic Monitor website exposed that Turkish Brigadier General Semih Terzi was killed on the direct orders of Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakalli, the then-head of Turkey's Special Forces Command.
The court transcript containing the testimony of Col. Firat Alakus, of the intelligence section of the Special Forces Command, revealed that Terzi discovered the illegal transfer of Qatari funds to jihadists in Syria. In a hearing at the 17th High Criminal Court in Ankara in March 2019, Alakus testified that Qatar was involved in the conspiracy against the Syrian government, and funds were funneled to support terrorists after they were transferred to Turkey.
"Terzi knew how much of the funding delivered to Turkey by Qatar for the purpose of purchasing weapons and ammunition for the opposition was actually used for that and how much of it was actually used by public officials, how much was embezzled," Alakus said.
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