Receiving funds from Pakistan: US court sentences Dr Fai to 2 years in jail

He was accused of, and later pleaded guilty to, taking money from the ISI to run his NGO.

WASHINGTON: A US federal court in Alexandria has sentenced Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, the director of the Kashmiri-American Council, to two years in jail and three years of supervised release.

In December last year, Dr Fai had pleaded guilty to two charges: 1.) “To falsify, conceal and cover up material facts he had a duty to disclose in matters within the jurisdiction of executive branch agencies of the US government”; 2.) “To defraud the Treasury Department by impeding the lawful functions of the IRS in the collection of revenue.”

Arrested in July 2011, Dr Fai was accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He has been accused of, and later pleaded guilty to, taking money from the Inter-Services Intelligence to run his US-based NGO.

In a press release issued by the Department of Justice, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil MacBride, said “Mr Fai lied to the Justice Department, the IRS, and many political leaders throughout the United States as he pushed the ISI’s propaganda on Kashmir.”

Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said, “Fai is today being held accountable for his role in a decades-long scheme to conceal the fact that the government of Pakistan was secretly funding his efforts to influence US policy on Kashmir.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2012.