Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai is accused of funnelling ISI’s cash into America to influence lawmakers on Kashmir, on grounds of violation of money laundering rules and Foreign Agents Registration Act.
WASHINGTON – The US government has launched forfeiture proceedings against the Rs 3-crore house of Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai, accused of funnelling ISI’s cash into America to influence lawmakers on Kashmir, on grounds of violation of money laundering rules and Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The house of 62-year-old Fai, the head of the Kashmiri American Council who has been charged with being an unregistered agent of ISI, is based in Fairfax – an effluent suburb of Washington-in Virginia and values more than $700,000 (nearly Rs 3 crore), according to publicly available records. Fai has been put under house arrest with electronic surveillance and an unsecured bond of $100,000.
Assistant US Attorney Gordon Kromberg told a US District Court in Virginia recently that the government has initiated the forfeiture on his house. Fai’s attorney Nina Ginsberg had told the court that the house has equity of $500,000 and this could be available for bond if necessary.
However, Kromberg said the fact that Fai’s house has equity in it is interesting, but it is not particularly helpful because he has violated Foreign Agents Registration act, which is “a specified unlawful activity under the money laundering laws.” “As a result as noted in the complaint the government is seeking forfeiture of the proceeds of the violation consisting of millions of dollars that Mr Fai got from the ISI over the past 20 years.”
