Hezbollah slams US laundering charge
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem
Hezbollah has denied US allegations of involvement in a 300-million-dollar laundering scheme and drug trafficking, Press TV reports.
In a statement, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the claims are aimed at tarnishing its image, insisting that the Islamic movement does not pursue “a religiously prohibited path” to develop its resources.
“America's allegations of money laundering or financing the group from narcotics money are not fooling anyone,” Sheikh Qassem stated.
The remarks came after the New York Times published an article last week, hurling the serious accusations against Hezbollah.
The US officials claimed that Lebanese financial institutions wired more than USD 300 million to the United States in a laundering scheme using the US financial system to benefit Hezbollah.
The US government recently filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court seeking about 500 million dollars in money-laundering penalties from a number of Lebanese financial institutions, a US shipping company and 30 US car buyers.
US prosecutors said the money was wired from Lebanon to the US and used to buy used cars and ship them to West Africa. They said Hezbollah money-laundering channels were used to send earnings from the car sales and drug trafficking back to Lebanon.
The resistance movement responded by condemning Washington's attempts to cover up spying networks that gather information on Hezbollah for Israel.
MRS/JR/IS
