Federal officials have charged two men with acting in a long-term conspiracy to act as agents of the Pakistani government without disclosing their relationship with the foreign government. One of those charged has given multiple donations to politicians on both sides of the aisle, most of it to Rep. Dan Burton (R).
The Department of Justice says U.S. citizens Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, ran the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), which held itself out to be a “Kashmiri organization run by Kashmiris and financed by Americans,” according to DOJ.
But the KAC is one of three “Kashmir Centers” that the feds said were “actually run by elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan’s military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI),” said DOJ. The other two centers are in England and Belgium, according to the feds.
Fai gave over $10,000 to Burton between between 1990 and 2010 and gave $250 to Obama on Nov. 2, 2008, according to federal records. He also gave $250 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $250 to the DNC Services Corp and $6,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Law enforcement sources told NBC’s Pete Williams that “there’s no reason to believe that members of Congress or other organizations that received his contributions were aware of his government connections.”
“Mr. Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the U.S. government’s position on Kashmir,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil MacBride said in a statement.
“His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funneled millions through the Kashmir Center to contribute to U.S. elected officials, fund high-profile conferences, and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision makers in Washington,” MacBride said.
