US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT958

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000958 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP, S/CT, IO/PHO, NEA/ARP, IO/UNP 
TREASURY FOR OFAC:RNEWCOMB 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL AUFHAUSER 
TREASURY FOR TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING 
NSC FOR PETERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2013 
TAGS: EFIN, PTER, ETTC, PREL, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) LAJNAT AD-DA'AWA AL-ISLAMIYA (LDI) 
 
REF: A. STATE 51355 
     B. KUWAIT 921 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR RICHARD H. JONES; REASON 1.5 (D) 
 
1. (SBU) Leaders of Kuwait's Islamic Constitutional Movement 
(ICM - the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood here) paid 
separate calls on the French and US Ambassadors March 16 to 
appeal against the asset freeze imposed on the ICM-affiliated 
charity Lajnat ad-Da'awa al-Islamiya (LDI - reftels).  They 
stressed that LDI is a reputable organization that has been 
active for several years, and that many of the accusations 
levelled against it contained factual errors or were years 
out of date.  They avowed total opposition to terrorism and 
commitment to do all in their power to prevent funds from 
being diverted to terrorist causes, including the use of 
international auditors, but insisted they have seen no reason 
to believe LDI was guilty of funding terrorism.  On the 
contrary, they claimed, LDI is an organization that does its 
own work rather than sub-contracting it out, and has such a 
good reputation that UNSYG Kofi Annan himself recently 
visited one of its activities. Not only the UN worked with 
the LDI in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but a French 
organization channeled project funding through LDI.  Now, 
some 1.4 million Kuwaiti Dinars (over $4.5 million) of LDI 
funds are frozen, cutting off aid to thousands of orphans who 
depend on LDI. 
 
2.  (SBU) The ICM leaders (Chairman Issa al-Shaheen, MP Dr. 
Nasser al-Sane, and Abdul-Latif al-Hajeri) understand that 
they will have to work with their government and follow UN 
procedures in seeking to have LDI de-listed by the UN 1267 
Committee.  They also understand that some of the evidence 
against LDI cannot be made public.  The core of their appeal 
is:   either show specific wrongdoing so we can take action 
to prevent recurrence, or unfreeze it.  Without making any 
promises for action, the Ambassador said we would be happy to 
look at any information ICM wished to share regarding LDI, 
and noted that if Dr. Sane travels to Washington in the near 
future as he hopes to do, he might want to consider trying to 
discuss the matter with OFAC. 
 
JONES