The Europe Trust

Last updated

The Europe Trust, formerly known as the European Trust, is a UK charity and company which lists its purpose as developing a portfolio of assets intended to fund social and economic projects for communities in Europe. The Europe Trust was founded by the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), an organization alleged to have ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.

Contents

History and organization

Europe Trust is a Markfield, United Kingdom-based company and charity which was first registered as a U.K. charity in 1996 under the name European Trust and then incorporated as a U.K. company named Europe Trust in 2003. [1] In 2004 it was again registered as a charity bearing the name Europe Trust. The 2005 financial report says that the principal activity of the company "was that of to establish a portfolio of assets (awqaf) businesses and investments to generate resources to fund social and economic projects for communities in Europe." [2]

The Europe Trust has purchased a property in Berlin's Wedding district for four million euros. Several associations and groups have moved in there that are being monitored by the Federal and State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz), i.e. German domestic intelligence services. [3]

The directors and trustees of the Europe Trust are European Muslims of Middle Eastern descent.[ citation needed ] The Europe Trust employs three staff members and has multiple volunteers. Former trustee and co-founder Dr. Ahmed Kadhem al-Rawi serves currently as the chief executive.

Connections to the Muslim Brotherhood

Major news outlets as the Wall Street Journal and The Times have reported that the Europe Trust is the financial vehicle of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2005 that the European Trust was created in 1996 as the de facto fundraising arm of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe in order to break the dependency of FIOE on Gulf donors. The Journal also reported that the Trust had directly subsidized projects of the FIOE, including three colleges and three local Islamic centers that affiliated with the FIOE. [4]

The Times reported that the Europe Trust, which has property assets worth more than £8.5 million, sends rental income from its properties to an unofficial network of Brotherhood-linked organizations throughout the continent including the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), identified by a government minister in 2010 as “the Brotherhood’s representative in the UK”. [5]

Connections to radicalism and terrorism

The Times of London reported a number of ties from the Europe Trust and/or its Trustees to various forms of terrorism:

Related Research Articles

Islamic Association of Palestine was an organization accused of raising money in the United States for Hamas established in 1981 and defunct since 2004. It described itself as "a not-for-profit, public-awareness, educational, political, social, and civic, national grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a just, comprehensive, and eternal solution to the cause of Palestine and suffrages of the Palestinians." For a time it also used the name American Muslim Society (AMS) and operated as the American Middle Eastern League for Palestine (AMEL).

al-Haramain Foundation

Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHIF) was a charity foundation, based in Saudi Arabia. Under various names it had branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Comoros, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, and the United States, and "at its height" raised between $40 and $50 million a year in contributions worldwide. While most of the foundation's funds went to feed poor Muslims around the world, a small percentage went to Al-Qaeda, and that money was "a major source of funds" for the terrorist group. In 2003, Saudi authorities ordered Al-Haramain to shut down all overseas branches, and by 2004 Saudi authorities had dissolved Al-Haramain. However, US intelligence officials believed it had reopened branches under new names.

Islamic Relief International aid agency based in, Birmingham, UK

Islamic Relief is an international aid agency that provides humanitarian relief and development programmes in over 40 countries, serving communities in need regardless of race, political affiliation, gender or belief.

Anas Altikriti President of the Cordoba Foundation

Anas Altikriti is the CEO and Founder of The Cordoba Foundation, The Cordoba Foundation describes its aim as "bridging the gap of understanding between the Muslim World and the West". Anas Altikriti himself is a hostage negotiator, who has successfully negotiated the release of 18 hostages from various conflict zones around the world, between November 2005 and October 2015.

Interpal

Interpal is the working name for Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, a British charity founded in 1994 that describes itself as a non-political charity to alleviate problems faced by Palestinians, and focused solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy Palestinians the world over, but primarily in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Jordan.

Muslim Aid is a UK based Islamic International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO). The international humanitarian charity has relief and development programmes in countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is the second oldest Muslim charity in the UK and celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020. The charity works to support and empower people suffering the effects of poverty, war, and natural disaster through both emergency relief and sustainable programmes designed to provide long-term support and independent futures to the most vulnerable communities around the world. The charity is a long standing member of a number of umbrella organisations including BOND, NCVO and is one of the founding members of the Muslim Charities Forum. Traditionally supported by its local communities, it has established partnerships with major institutional funders around the world including the UN World Food Programme (WFP), The UN Refugee Agency, DFID, European Commission (ECHO) and others. It is the UK's second oldest Muslim charity.

The Global Relief Foundation (GRF), also known as Foundation Secours Mondial (FSML), was an Islamic charity based in Bridgeview, Illinois, until it was raided and shut down on December 14, 2001, and listed among the "Designated Charities and Potential Fundraising Front Organizations for Foreign Terrorist Organizations" ("DCPFFOFTO") by the United States Treasury Department in 2002. According to the US Treasury, "The Global Relief Foundation (GRF) … and its officers and directors have connections to, and have provided support for and assistance to, Osama bin Laden (OBL), al Qaeda (aQ), and other known terrorist groups (OKTG)." It was one of the few organizations registered with the Taliban.

al-Aqsa Foundation

The al-Aqsa Foundation is an international charity established in 1997. The head office of the foundation was located in Germany until it was closed by the German authorities in July 2002. The organisation is known to have local branch offices in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Pakistan, South Africa, Yemen and elsewhere.

The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989. FIOE subsequently created the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a pan European Muslim Brotherhood organisation which provides guidance to Muslims in Europe. According to its website, it has "hundreds of member organizations spread across 28 European States, all subscribing to a common belief in a methodology based on moderation and balance, which represents the tolerance of Islam" The FIOE has a headquarters office in Brussels and has had some success in positioning itself as a dialog partner for the EU and other important institutions. Funding for the FIOE is derived largely from Gulf sources, including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the Waqf Ministry in Kuwait. In February 2014, the FIOE elected Abdallah Ben Mansour as its new President replacing Chakib Ben Makhlouf.

Yassin Kadi Saudi Arabian businessman (born 1955)

Yassin Abdullah Kadi is a Saudi Arabian businessman. A multi-millionaire from Jeddah, Kadi trained as an architect in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son-in-law of Sheikh Ahmed Salah Jamjoom, a former Saudi Arabian government minister with close ties to the Saudi royal family.

The Union of Good, also known as the Charity Coalition, is an umbrella organization consisting of over 50 Islamic charities and funds which funnel money to organizations belonging to Hamas, which currently rules the territory of the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which characterizes itself as an "Islamic resistance movement against Israeli occupation" is also on the US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The Mujama al-Islamiya is an Islamic charity which was established in 1973 in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who had been involved with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mujama started to offer clinics, blood banks, day care, medical treatment, meals and youth clubs. Mujama plays an important role for providing social care to the people, particularly those living in refugee camps. It also extended financial aid and scholarships to young people who wanted to study in Saudi Arabia and the West.

Ali al-Sallabi Libyan Islamist

Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, or al-Salabi is a Muslim historian, religious scholar and Islamist politician from Libya. He was arrested by the Gaddafi regime, then left Libya and studied Islam in Saudi Arabia and Sudan during the 1990s. He then studied in Qatar under Yusuf al-Qaradawi and returned to Libya during the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi and distributed weapons, money, and aid to Islamist groups in the country. His actions were criticized by members of the internationally recognized Libyan government under the National Transitional Council who he in turn criticized as being secular.

Ibrahim Farouk El-Zayat is a European Muslim activist in Germany and has been a functionary in many important Islamic organizations in Germany, Europe, and Saudi Arabia.

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) is a British Sunni Muslim organisation founded in 1997. MAB has been well known for its participation in the protests opposing the Iraq War. More recently, it has been known for promoting Muslim participation in Britain.

Qatar has been accused of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders, which has been one of the justifications for the Qatar diplomatic crisis that started in 2017 and ended in 2021. In 2014, David S. Cohen, then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country: "There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law." Accusations come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, government officials, and journalists.

Sheikh Eid bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association

Sheikh Eid Bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association is a Qatari charitable organizations established in 1995 in Doha, Qatar. The organization was named after Sheikh Eid Ibn Mohammad ibn Thani ibn Jasim ibn Mohammad Al Thani (1922-1994). The U.S. Department of Treasury has characterized the organization's founder as "terrorist financier and facilitator who has provided money and material support and conveyed communications to al-Qa'ida and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen for more than a decade.”

In March 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron asked the then British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, to lead a government review into the Muslim Brotherhood.

Soliman S. Biheiri is an Egyptian citizen who moved to the United States in 1985. He established there Bait ul-Mal Incorporated (BMI), an Islamic investment firm that mostly fundraised on behalf of the U.S. terrorist designated Hamas. In 2005, Biheiri was sentenced to 13 months and one day in prison for terrorism and fraud.

The Islamic Cultural Center Sesto San Giovanni was established in Sesto San Giovanni, a commune in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy. The center’s main goal is to serve the needs of the local Muslim community by contributing to the education of the Muslim citizen, by engaging the youth and by promoting intercultural dialogue. The Islamic Cultural Center Sesto San Giovanni is actively promoting the construction of a new mosque.

References

  1. "About the register of charities".
  2. Financial Statement Europe Trust 2005
  3. Welt vom 11.12.2021 Ein Islamistenzentrum in Berlin – finanziert mit Geld aus England
  4. Ian Johnson, The Wall Street Journal; 29 December 2005; How Islamic Group's Ties Reveal Europe's Challenge; A Conduit to Mainstream, Muslim Lobbyist Also Has Some Fundamentalist Links (subscription required)
  5. 1 2 3 4 Andrew Norfolk (10 July 2015). "The money trail: from student digs to 'mothership of Islamism'". The Times.(subscription required)
  6. Andrew Norfolk (10 July 2015). "Unwitting students fund Islamist projects with their rent payments". The Times.(subscription required)
  7. Richard Kerbaj, British aid workers risk arrest in Gaza, The Times, 9 May 2008; Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4678132.ece (behind pay wall)