The latest debates on fake news have gotten a new touch by some unknown group of people who on purpose leaked new allegations surrounding Turkey-based bank Kuveyt-Turk.
A press release published on November 19 by PR News Channel claimed that US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second most powerful democrat in the Senate, would hold hearings to investigate two key banking institutions in Kuwait and whether they helped fund terrorism. The press release said Durbin-led Senate Judiciary Committee would target Kuwait Finance House and its alleged subsidiary in Turkey, the Kuveyt-Turk Participation Bank.
A spokesman at Senator Durbin’s office flatly denied the report and said it was completely false.
Meanwhile a representative of PR News Channel said on last Wednesday that the press release denied by Senator Durbin’s office was sent to them by a group called “United against Terror.” Online records do not indicate the existence of such group as PR News Channel refused to acknowledge the name of the contact person of the group per their protocol requires.
The fake report has surfaced amidst the ongoing court case in California against two banks on terror funding charges. The lawsuit filed by St. Francis Assisi last summer, an association established by plaintiff’s lawyer Mogeeb Weiss one week prior the submission of the complaint, allegedly representing the relatives of Yazidis who suffered at the hands of Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
Kuveyt-Turk’s lawyers dismissed the charges by saying the allegations have no merit because banks are not responsible for the allegations. Weiss claimed in his complaint that designated Al-Nusra financier Hajjaj Fahd al-Ajmi has been collecting money for Daesh on social media by sharing the bank account numbers belonging to some aid groups. The complaint says these two banks must be held accountable for unspecified Yazidi grievances at unspecified times and places.
“The claims are incoherent: at the bottom, they are based on Daesh’s conduct, but the allegations confuse support for Al Nusrah—a different entity—with support for Daesh. Moreover, even assuming that Defendant Hajjaj assisted Daesh, no facts are alleged that either bank had any knowledge or involvement in any activities of Hajjaj or Daesh”, the lawyers of the defendants said on their motion against the complaint on November 2.
Plaintiff St. Francis Assisi’s lawyer Mogeeb Weiss previously has not responded to the questions casted by Daily Sabah, inquiring how Mr. Weiss would explain the contradictions in the case such as an Al-Nusra designated person allegedly collecting money for its arch-enemy Daesh.
The complaint said Hajjaj Fahd al-Ajmi instructed followers to make their donations to a Kuveyt-Turk account registered under the name of the Sham Islamic Committee Association (SIC) – Şam İslami Heyeti Derneği in Turkish.
This is factually wrong because the complaint says the customer number for this account is 8695311 and the Kuveyt-Turk records show this account does not belong to the SIC. It is registered under the name of another association, the Sham Humanitarian Foundation (SHF), or İnsani Şam Derneği.
Kuveyt-Turk’s lawyer Ramazan Arıtürk shared a number of official documents with Daily Sabah that show the United Nations and UNICEF donated money to the SHF many times over the last few years and conducted joint humanitarian operations. Needless to say, the SHF is not a designated organization.
The court case has recently infuriated Ankara as well. Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan last week said the allegations over Kuveyt-Turk and Kuwait Finance House were proofs of Western double standards.
He said, “U.S. Congress has recently passed a legislation which allows 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. This is ludicrous. How would you punish an entire country for this? Now the same scheme has been put in place for Kuveyt-Turk on the charges of aiding terrorist activities.”
