U.S. Requests Beirut’s Assistance in Criminal Probe Involving Lebanese Man
The U.S. Justice Department has asked for assistance from Beirut authorities on a criminal investigation into a Lebanese man’s announcement of bankruptcy and possible ties to Hizbullah, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.
A copy of the memo was sent by the Department to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, which asked the Justice Ministry to study it, the newspaper said.
The Criminal Division of the Department’s International Affairs Office sought “to obtain evidence for use in a criminal investigation and any related criminal proceedings” to determine whether Adnan Hassan Tajeddine had violated U.S. federal laws on bankruptcy and money laundering by failing to reveal banking accounts and deposits in a Lebanese bank account.
The memo asked Lebanon to provide the Department of Justice with details on account numbers 3558890 and 3558891 at a bank in Beirut, which An Nahar did not identify, and requested information on a property ownership in the southern village of Batoliyeh.
The Department said that after announcing his bankruptcy, Tajeddine claimed he was a salesman at a company called Tajco Windows Inc. established in 2003 and that his relative was the owner of the firm. But in fact he was running its trading and financial affairs.
Tajeddine had also set up in 2008 a firm called Tajco Used Car Inc. and another window installation company, Premier Commercial Windows Inc., in 2009.
That same year, officers from the Internal Revenue Service found bank records from the Lebanese bank in question after inspecting his house in the area of Dearborn Heights in the state of Michigan and the offices of Tajco Windows Inc.
The bank records reveal that the company had received a transfer from account number 3558890 in the name of Tajeddine, who had opened or began using the two accounts in question in Beirut in 2006, the memo said.
The second account, 3558891, is a joint account with Ali Farhat, who is Tajeddine’s nephew and lives in Lebanon, but has no suspicious activities, it added.
While the memo did not reveal that Tajeddine was possibly involved in laundering money to benefit Hizbullah, An Nahar said that the investigation into the case comes as the U.S. administration designates several individuals and businesses as terrorists for involvement with Hizbullah fundraising.
The newspaper added that Tajeddine’s family members have reportedly bought land parcels in several Christian and Druze areas and sought to build facilities to change the sectarian identity of the regions.
In another related development, An Nahar said that a European anti-terror official is expected to arrive in Beirut on a two-day visit on Tuesday to discuss with Lebanese officials the possible infiltration of terrorists to Lebanon, efforts exerted by Lebanese authorities to combat money laundering and other banking procedures to prevent money smuggling to Hizbullah.
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