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Is ‘terror financier’ Ziyadh Hoorzook being set up as a perfect fall guy?

HIGH STAKES: SA’s removal from a global financial grey list is being tied to a successful conviction

 

Alameen Templeton

Alleged “terror financier” and Sandton resident Ziyadh Hoorzook looks more like a sacrificial lamb headed for a foregone, ritualistic execution than an accused in a court case as his trial Wednesday in Lichtenburg approaches.
South Africa’s white media are all agog, as they breathlessly remind South Africa’s authorities – who have had the temerity to accuse US poster boy Israel of genocide – that a successful prosecution will almost guarantee the country’s removal from one of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey lists” for not preventing or closely monitoring dodgy, cross-border financial transactions.
Perfect fall guy
It’s like Hoorzook is being set up as the perfect patsy in a game intended to ensure South Africa falls back into line along with other nations fearful of western sanctions who don’t mind compromising their legal processes if it will guarantee them access to Western finance.
Hoorzook (35) is accused of shipping Bitcoin worth R11 500 to a Syrian-based organisation, identified only as “Al-Sadaqah”, in 2017 – three years before it was supposedly exposed in the US as a “terror organisation”.
“The case – set to be heard in the Lichtenburg Magistrate’s Court in North West on Wednesday 22 January – is seen as a test of South Africa’s commitment to removing itself from the grey list imposed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) two years ago,” Moneyweb reports.
It headlined its story: “Joburg man’s terror financing case using crypto is a test for the FIC (Financial Intelligence Centre)”. Its strap headline reads: “Due to be heard next week, the case is an opportunity to show that SA is serious about removing itself from the grey list”.
“The court case underscores South Africa’s evolving response to terrorist financing conducted via cryptocurrency. A successful prosecution would enhance the country’s prospects for removal from the FATF’s greylist,” Daily Maverick South Africa is reminding its readers.
It seems Hoorzook’s case isn’t so much about his guilt as it is about trying to put pressure on South African authorities and the government.
Intelligence “sources”, unnamed and unidentified, have full access to the white media’s preparatory coverage. Hoorzook’s R11 500 is just “the tip of the iceberg” the Zionazi SA Jewish Report is revealing. Apparently, South Africa is awash with Muslim terror financiers.
“The case of a Sandton man accused of using Bitcoin to finance terrorist activities has highlighted South Africa’s escalating security threat, experts warned this week,” the SAJR claims.
Until Hoorzook’s arrest, South Africa’s was negotiating with the FATF for removal from the grey list of countries that appear to be flagging in their efforts to crack down on cross-border transactions linked to corruption.
Right on schedule
Moneyweb wrote in September South Africa was on schedule to meet international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, “and could be removed from the international Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) so-called grey list by February 2025”.
The FIC said South Africa was ticking all the right boxes, thanks mainly to amendments it made to the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act.
The FIC noted approvingly the government was tackling corruption and had notched up a few notable victories, claiming it contributed to the recovery of R98.5 million in criminal proceeds during the year to end March 2024.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted in his foreword to the FIC’s September report “that the goal is to achieve full compliance with FATF standards by the February 2025 target and to exit the grey list”.
So, it seems there’s a lot more riding on Hoorzook’s R11 500 donation than his actual innocence or guilt. Could it be that unmentionable, western “advisers” are suggesting a guilty finding may be all that is needed to tip the FATF scales in South Africa’s favour?
Whatever the hints and contents of confidential “demarche” attaché cases western diplomats may be feeding their South African counterparts, Hoorzook’s eventual guilt or innocence will turn, not on findings in court cases in the US, or listings on opaque “watch lists”, but on Hoorzook’s actual state of mind, and whether he acted with criminal intent at the time – three years before Al-Sadaqah was found in the US to be a terror organisation.
Red herrings or red lights?
Police say he had speeches by Osama bin Laden and other documents about ISIS and other “Yankee Jihadi” outfits on his devices.
This writer also access and occasionally downloads such documents simply in the interests of informing myself about developments in global Islam. It doesn’t mean I want to blow up someone.
According to US authorities, Al-Sadaqah is used to finance weapons purchases and forms part of Al-Qaeda’s network of fundraising organisations (which also include the Pentagon and the White House, a fact “US authorities” tend to gloss over).
South African police have told the SAJR that images on Hoorzook’s devices included one from Al-Sadaqah showing clearly it was channelling funds to buy weapons for “the jihad” (see picture).
Two presumed “jihadis” are shown holding up a banner with the words clearly emblazoned for all to see: “Supporting the mujahideen in Syria with weapons, financial aid and other projects assisting the jihad”.
That seems pretty much a slam-dunk QED. The only problem is the picture is from 2018, a year AFTER Hoorzook made his donation, intelligence sources who are close to the case have told Markaz Sahaba.
Also, the term “jihad” has many meanings. As Americans are fond to point out when it suits them – One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.
Western governments leaned over backwards to facilitate the flow of eager jihadis to the maelstrom that became Syria from 2013. America has even taken some of them under its own wings in north-eastern Syria where they have served as a convenient thorn in the side of the Assad regime, despite Turkish complaints they are supporting terrorists.
Coming out in the wash
So, the state’s case is a far-from-watertight one. Until Hoorzook’s sudden arrest a week ago, the government was focussing on “ordinary”, corrupt transfers of money that clearly form the rump of their investigations.
The R98million the FIC has helped recover clearly shows where the focus of their investigations should be.
Now, it seems South Africa’s “rehabilitation” with the FATF will hinge on the successful prosecution of a R11 500 donation made by a private citizen.
A lot is at stake – South Africa’s reputation with bankers versus the independence of its judiciary.
It remains to be seen which virtue Pretoria will prize more.

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