Yassin Abdullah Kadi (; also transliterated from Arabic as Yasin Abdullah Ezzedine al-Qadi or Yasin A. Kahdi) (born 23 February 1955) is a Saudi Arabian businessman.Gerth, Jeff and Judith Miller, "On The List: Philanthropist or Fount of Funds for Terrorists?" New York Times, 13 October 2001 A multi-millionaire from Jeddah, Kadi trained as an architect in Chicago, Illinois.Jackson, David et al. "U.S.: Money Trail Leads to Saudi," Chicago Tribune, 29 October 2001 He is the son-in-law of Sheikh Ahmed Salah Jamjoom, a former Saudi Arabian government minister with close ties to the Saudi royal family.Blackburn, Chris "Jamaat-i-Islam: A Threat to Bangladesh?" Secular Voice of Bangladesh website Simpson, Glenn R. "Well Connected, A Saudi Mogul Skirts Sanctions," Wall Street Journal, 29 August 2007Who's Who in the Arab World: 1981-1982 (University of Michigan: Publitec, 1981) p. 820
The UN placed sanctions against Kadi in 1999 and 2000, when he was named by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1333 as a suspected associate of Osama bin Laden's terror network, al-Qaeda. On 12 October 2001, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ordered his assets in the United States to be frozen.Thomas Jr., Landon "A Wealthy Saudi, Mired in Limbo over an Accusation of Terrorism," New York Times, 12 December 2008 The European Union also applied sanctions to Kadi.Marty, Dick, "United Nations Security Council and European Union Blacklists," Doc. 11454 Report, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe, 16 November 2007, http://assembly.coe.int/documents/workingdocs/doc07/edoc11454.htm, provides hyperlinks to relevant documents, namely "Council Decision 2001/927/EC Establishing the List Provided for in Article 2(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2580 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism", 27 December 2001, "Council Common Position 2001/930/CFSP of 27 December 2001," "Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP of 27 December 2001," etc.Posch, Albert, "The Kadi Case: Rethinking the Relationship between EU Law and International Law?" Columbia Journal of European Law, 15 Colum. J. Eur. L. F. 1 (2009), In response, Kadi's lawyers brought two lawsuits now considered landmarks in EU law and public international law, known as Kadi I (2008) and Kadi II (2013). The case for which he is best known, a 2008 decision by the European Court of Justice, Kadi I,The fuller name is Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities (2008) C-402/05 P is thought to have challenged "the core framework of UN terrorist sanctions and forces UN member states to tackle difficult legal questions or else face possible collapse of the UN’s terrorist sanctions regime."
Kadi's listing as a terrorist was overturned by several European courts, and his name was removed from blacklists by Switzerland (2007),Ghafour, P.K. Abdul. "Yassin al Qadi Exonerated," Arab News, 24 December 2007. the European Union (2008 and 2010),Carter-Ruck Press Release: "General Court Orders Annulment of European Regulation Freezing Funds of Sheik Yassin Abdullah Kadi," 30 September 2010"EU Court Annuls Funds Freeze Against Saudi 'Terror' Suspect," EUBusiness 30 September 2010 and the United Kingdom (2008 and 2010)."Her Majesty's Treasury v. Ahmed UKSC2" Law Essays and Dissertation Experts website citing London Times onlineMacDonald, Alison. "Case Comment: HM Treasury v Ahmed UKSC2" FreeLegalWeb.org, syndicated from UKSC weblog. In September 2010, Kadi "succeeded in having dismissed in their entirety the civil claims brought against him in the United States on behalf of the families of the 9/11 victims",Carter-Ruck Law Firm, "9/11-related U.S. Civil Claims Against Prominent Saudi Businessman Dismissed ," Carter-Ruck International Law: Recent Work webpage, 13 September 2010 when a U.S. District Judge ruled that the District Court for the Southern District of New York had no jurisdiction over Kadi, a Saudi Arabian citizen. In October 2012, the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda granted Kadi's petition to be removed from its blacklist.Associated Press, "UN removes Saudi businessman from al-Qaida sanctions blacklist," Washington Post, 5 October 2012 The Kadi II decision by the European Court of Justice in July 2013 declined appeals by the European Commission and the UK against the earlier annulment of European sanctions against Kadi, saying that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations of his being linked to terrorism. On 26 November 2014, the United States Department of the Treasury removed Kadi's name from its Specially Designated Nationals list.U.S. Department of the Treasury. "Counter Terrorism Designation Removals", 26 November 2014.
Early life
Kadi was born 23 February 1955 in Cairo, Egypt."Sanctions, Blocked Persons, Specially Designated Nationals," Foreign Assets Control Office Report, 21 June 2007"Individuals Associated with Al-Qaida: Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee Amends Entries of Thirteen Individuals on its Consolidated List," Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York, 15 December 2010 His father became a successful businessman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has six sisters and no brothers.
Around 1977, Kadi earned a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering from Alexandria University in Cairo, Egypt, and subsequently became an intern at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago from July 1979 to February 1981. He helped the firm develop a master plan and contract documentation for the Mecca Campus of the King Abdulaziz University.Yassin Abdullah Kadi, Claimant, and HM Treasury, Defendant, In the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court, In the Matter of Yassin Abdullah Kadi, CO/4528/01 and CO/4532/01, Petition 175, p. 3, footnote 3.
Yassin Kadi married a daughter of Sheikh Ahmed Salah Jamjoom sometime before 1981. He and his wife have seven children, One of his sons is a U.S. citizen.
Business and nonprofit ventures In the 1980s, Kadi became a vice president of the Jamjoom Group, a multi-national conglomerate headquartered in Jeddah. Around 1986, Yassin Kadi became one of the principal investors in BMI Inc., a Shariah-compliant investment bank based in New Jersey.Kane, David. "Declaration in Support of Pretrial Detention," USA v. Soliman S. Biheiri, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, Case No. 03-365-A, 14 August 2003. Retrieved via FindLaw.com August 2012
Kadi inherited "several million dollars" in 1988. In 1990, he began to establish close business associations with Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz, whose family owned a majority interest in Saudi Arabia's largest bank, the National Commercial Bank. Kadi said that he was brought in to maintain good financial relations with pious Muslims throughout the Islamic world, by building a more shariah-compliant banking network for the bank. "We devised systems of leasing and ways to borrow money" that could be used by pious Muslims, who are not allowed to charge interest, Kadi told the Chicago Tribune.David Jackson, Laurie Cohen and Robert Manor, "U.S.: Money Trail Leads to Saudi: Financier Denies Sending Funds to Bin Laden," Chicago Tribune, 29 October 2001, posted on LA Times website
In May 1992, Kadi created the Muwafaq Foundation, an Islamic charity incorporated for the stated purpose of providing famine relief and education in the Islamic world, particularly Pakistan.Pallister, David and Jamie Wilson. "Untangling the Financial Web: Raising Money, Muslim Relief Groups Caught in Cross-fire," The Guardian, Tuesday 25 September 2001 The charity was incorporated as a trust on the island of Jersey, an off-shore tax haven located near the coast of Normandy, France. Officials on the island told the Guardian that Jersey "does not appear to maintain any public record of the Muwafaq Foundation. "They said "if it was structured as a financial trust, it would not require to be registered at all." Kadi personally donated about $15 to $20 million from his fortune, and solicited donations from bin Mahfouz and other wealthy Saudi families. Bin Mahfouz became a principal donor but later said that he was not involved in the operation of the charity after its establishment.Bin Mahfouz Family, "What was the connection between Khalid bin Mahfouz and the Blessed Relief charity? " FAQ Tab, The Events of 11 September 2001 and Their Aftermath, Bin Mahfouz Information website
A similarly named organization, the "Muwaffaq Society" or "Muwaffaq Ltd.," was registered in the Isle of Man in June 1991, but Kadi denied any relationship to this entity. Plaintiffs who have filed suit against Kadi and his associates claim that Muwafaq was a charitable front used to funnel money to al-Qaeda, an allegation Mr Kadi has repeatedly denied.Burr, J. Millard and Robert O. Collins, Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 121-123. The authors claim that the Muwafaq Foundation opened an office in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1992, at a time when al-Qaeda was assisting militants fighting U.S. soldiers there, and "its purpose [there] consisted of transporting weapons and ammunition to Islamists in the city."
In 1996, Kadi became one of the original founders and financial supporters of the Dar Al-Hekma Private College for Girls, a "path-breaking Saudi women's college" based in Jeddah. At the time of the 11 September attacks, he was serving as the Secretary-General of the college.Samman, Muhammad. "Treasury action smacks of arrogance, violates human rights, says Al-Qadi," Arab News, 14 October 2001
Business activity after 2001 According to Victor D. Comras, "Al Kadi is believed to have acted swiftly after 9/11 to restructure many of his business interests and, while retaining actual control, placed many of his own assets into the hands of nominal managers and directors."Comras, Victor D. Flawed Diplomacy: The United Nations & the War on Terrorism. (Potomac Books, Inc., 2010). P. 98 In 2005, the New York Times estimated that Kadi's net worth "exceeds $65 million." In 2010, Comras described him as a billionaire, citing his extensive international business holdings.
Terrorism blacklist
Meetings with Osama bin Laden In an October 2001 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Kadi said that he met with Osama bin Laden at religious gatherings in the 1980s, but "he said the encounters were unremarkable at a time when bin Laden's battle against the Soviets in Afghanistan attracted US government support and donations from Mosques around the United States."
In a December 2008 interview with the New York Times, Kadi added that he once met Osama bin Laden in Chicago. He gives the date as 1981."Qadi told the Times that Bin Laden "came to Chicago to recruit American-trained engineers for his family’s construction business. As Mr. Kadi remembers it, he put Mr. bin Laden in touch with a group of engineers, several of whom were eventually hired." Thomas Jr., Landon "A Wealthy Saudi, Mired in Limbo over an Accusation of Terrorism," New York Times, 12 December 2008 Steven Coll, a biographer of the Bin Laden familyColl, Steven, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (New York: Penguin Books, 2009) discovered that the date of the visit was 1979. Osama "was here for two weeks in 1979, it seems, and he visited Los Angeles and Indiana, among other places."Coll, Steven. "Osama in America: The Final Answer," The New Yorker, 30 June 2009.