Islamabad: Pakistan’s largest bank Habib Bank Limited (HBL) is accused of a terror financing case in the United States. It is alleged that the bank aided and abetted al-Qaeda terrorism and joined in a conspiracy to launch attacks that killed or injured 370 people in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2019, media reports said.
In its order issued on September 28, a New York district court said that the bank faces liabilities under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act as a party that “aids and abets, by knowingly providing substantial assistance, or who conspires with the person who committed such an act of international terrorism,” reports Dawn.
According to the court order, the plaintiffs alleged that the attacks were planned, authorised and committed by al-Qaeda, sometimes in conjunction with one or more other groups, including: Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Afghan Taliban, including the Haqqani Network, and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the report said.
The order stated that the plaintiffs had presented sufficient facts to infer that the bank used its New York branch “to further (al-Qaeda’s) terrorist goals”.
“The complaints allege that defendant took deliberate steps to help customers evade international sanctions regimes, and in doing so incurred business risk that ultimately led to defendant’s expulsion from the US. Those allegations are sufficient …,” the order added, reported Dawn.
However, the bank said that it is contesting the charges “fully and vigorously” in a US court.
“The public record is clear that HBL is unwavering in its commitment to combating the financing of terrorism, and — as has been well documented — its extensive global implementation of anti-money laundering compliance controls has been highly successful and lauded by regulators around the world,” an HBL statement read.
According to news agency ANI, this comes in the backdrop of Paris-based global financial transaction watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reviewing counterterrorism measures taken by Pakistan.
Pakistan has remained on FATF’s grey list since 2018 for suspected financial transactions in the past.
