Yousser Company for Finance and Investment is a bank that was part of the first Canadian lawsuit against a bank over terrorist funding.
History
Yousser Company for Finance and Investment is used by
Bayt al-Mal
''Bayt al-mal'' () is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of wealth." Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states, particularly in the early Islamic Calip ...
to secure loans and finance business deals for
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
companies. The organization is located in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
.
In September 2006, the United States said Bayt al-Mal and the Yousser Company for Finance and Investment served as a bank, creditor, and investment arm for Hezbollah and secured loans and financed business deals for Hezbollah. As of February 2007, Bayt al-Mal and Yousser Company bank accounts re-registered in the name of senior employees of Al-Qard al-Hassan. Further, after Bayt al-Mal's offices were damaged, in the summer 2006, Hezbollah moved some of its financial activity to Al-Qard al-Hassan. In September 2006, Panama suspended the bank's operations in their country.
According to Mr.
Stuart Levey,
U.S. Department of Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI),"Yousser Company for Finance and Investment functions as Hezbollah's unofficial treasury, holding and investing its assets and serving as intermediaries between the terrorist group and mainstream banks."
On July 11, 2008,
American Express Bank and the
Lebanese Canadian Bank was sued, in New York, for being the correspondent bank to the Yousser Company for Finance and Investment and the
Martyrs Foundation. In addition, Canadian citizens filed the first civil action as victims of Hezbollah rocket attacks in a Canadian court.
, it is still under sanctions.
References
Hezbollah
{{Lebanon-stub