Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Another Family Values Patriot

Former Mich. congressman indicted in terrorist fund-raising conspiracy

January 16, 2008
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fund-raising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al Qaeda and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying — money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Siljander, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations for one year in 1987.

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