7 November 2001

This morning I had appointment with the lawyer in Lugano, I left my house at eight thirty to the lawyer’s office. I tried to call my office from there several times but no one answered. I tried to call Himmat at his mobile but also no answer, I called his house. His daughter answered and said that the house if full of police men and women, they instructed her to speak in Italian , her father left in the morning to the office , and she tried to call him but they did not allow her.

I called my house, they repeated the same and one of the police men took the telephone and asked me where I am. I answered that I am in Lugano in the lawyer’s office and he will contact the authority to know what is there.

The lawyer contacted the prosecutor who said he wants to see me at 14 hours and so I went to him with the lawyer.

Lesson in accounting!!!!!!

 The Swiss vice Federal prosecutor Mr. Claud Nicati was leading the investigation.

He opened the file asking about my name, birth date, father and mother’s names, address, profession, etc .., and then he said you are accused of using ALTaqwa management Organization and Bank Al Taqwa for financing a terrorist organization. I asked which organization? He said I will tell you latter.

Question: What the company Al Taqwa management organization is doing?

I answered that mainly is doing the internal auditing of the mother company Bank Al Taqwa and feasibility studies for its projects.

Question: From where the company gets its income?

I answered, from the mother company Bank Al Taqwa

Question: In which currency the bank pays the company.

I answered, in US dollars.

Question: what you do with dollars.

I answered; we pay the company’s expenses

Question: no you covert those to Swiss frank and withdraw the franks in cash, what you were doing with the cash.

I answered: no we never withdraw cash we pay the salaries and expenses through the banks and against bills and every frank was paid through the bank and registered and audited.

He showed me a statement of the company’s account with Bank Del Gottardo underlined with red, blue, green colors and asked me is this statement related to your company?

I answered yes.

Question: Here you can see 200,000 dollars arrived and at the same day or the second day converted to franks cashed and debited, and here another 300,000 dollars, the same and here 500,000 dollars and so on, what you did with the cash?

I was cool and answered, excuse me do you understand accounting?

He became agitated and said loudly what do you mean?

I answered coolly, I mean if you understand accounting I can explain to you but if you don’t understand accounting how can I explain to you.

He answered ok explain.

I said to him any one knows accounting when he looks to that statement he will read at the top US Dollar account. When any amount converted to Swiss frank it should be debited to the dollar account and the value in frank goes to the Swiss frank account .Converting the dollar into Swiss Frank necessitate debiting the dollar account but it does not mean that the Franks were cashed and disappeared.

He answered does it mean that the company have another Swiss frank account with the same bank?

I answered of course we have.

He asked: If I ask Bank Dell Gottardo I will find it?

I answered Yes Sir.

He recorded this discussion in the interrogation protocol but with his style which is selective and summarized.

{Here I want to remind the reader with what I said before. quote, the intelligence aught to be intelligent, and they know nothing about accounting and they started to investigate accounts. unquote}

At this moment I became aware that the man in charge of investigating the case which he called financing terrorist organization lakes the knowledge not only of finance but even accounting. I remembered the american counsel who does not know about finance more than his salary, the house lease, the food, his wife and his dresses and wanted to see and examine the documents of a banker. In spite of that I expected that among his teem he should have banking and financial and accounting experts whom will be able to understand , unearth, and discover that we are victims of characterless persons who are unqualified for any noble job .

At this moment some body whispered some thing in the ears of the prosecutor and he said ok we close the file and shall fix another day to continue the interrogation but now you should go to your house to open your safe and the atom shelter to the police because they said that you have the keys.

I went home with my lawyer, to find in the house about 20 man and women, police and civil dressed. Among them I recognized 5 different nationalities differentiated by their languages and accents whether Italian or Swiss German or English or Arabic. The books of my library were all on the floor. I looked to those dressed in civil dress and who were speaking English with American accent and the others talking Arabic in three different accents and I said loudly in Italian (all these procedures are legally full of holes).The Swiss man who whispered in the ears of the prosecutor before took me aside and introduced to me another one and said I want to answer your comment. This gentleman is an Italian Judge we brought him to get his signature and acceptance for our actions. Our actions which you considered legally full of holes are legal. I said to him I can see that it will take time to prove whether it is or not.
I have to stop here to express my admiration and pride when I saw my wife, daughter and all the servants in the house all were full of confidence and honor. Those acts never affected their self confidence or their confidence in the head of the family.
Also I have to admit that the Italian Police whether from Campione or from the DIGOS or SISDI or the secret police all were polite and respectful but they have to execute their job.