The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, March 21, 2002
By Jerry Guidera and Glenn R. Simpson

WASHINGTON -- Federal antiterrorism agents raided 14 homes and businesses affiliated with a wealthy investor and political donor who serves as chairman of an Islamic mutual fund.

Acting on sealed warrants, Treasury Department and Federal Bureau of >Investigation agents seized records from locations used by M. Yaqub Mirza, including a Georgia poultry plant and several offices in the Washington suburbs. No arrests were made and no assets were frozen. Treasury Department officials declined to discuss the raids, saying only that they pertained to Operation Greenquest, a Customs Service operation to cut off funding for terrorism.

Mr. Mirza is chairman of the board of Amana Mutual Funds Trust, a no-load mutual-fund company with about $43 million in assets and publicly traded funds that says it invests according to Islamic principles. At least one of the addresses used by the fund and other entities associated with Mr. Mirza, 555 Grove St. in Herndon, Va., was raided yesterday.

"They're on a wild goose chase," said Phelps McIlvaine, an executive at Amana investment adviser Saturna Capital, which has a nearly 20-year relationship with Mr. Mirza. Messages left for Mr. Mirza yesterday weren't immediately returned. Saturna, of Bellingham, Wash., handles all calls to Amana. Mr. McIlvaine said he is confident the Amana funds aren't tied to terrorism. "The most transparent, well-documented, well-regulated place in the world is mutual funds," he said.

Investigators appear be most interested in Mr. Mirza's role as an officer of the Saar Foundation, a nonprofit started in the 1970s by members of Saudi Arabia's al-Rajihi family, which has interests in banking, construction, and real estate.

The group was established by Muslim scholars and scientists from the Middle East and Asia to raise money for antihunger campaigns, educational and technology projects in developing Islamic. For example, Saar has helped establish one of the largest poultry farms in Zimbabwe and built schools in Ivory Coast. Records show the U.S. arm of Saar was dissolved in December 2000, after posting $12.5 million in assets. The group has raised more than $1.7 billion, in its 17 years in the U.S.

Steven Emerson, founder of the Investigative Project, an antiterrorism watchdog in Washington, said officials are trying to determine if Saar was used to build a terrorist-funding network in the U.S. "There's a suspicion that this group was involved in money laundering for al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups," he said. A person familiar with the government inquiry said the links are under investigation.

The raid coincided with the filing of a lawsuit in Hillsborough County, Fla., by a former Justice Department prosecutor who alleges that Saar or other entities at 555 Grove St. provided funding for groups set up by Sami Al Arian, a former University of South Florida professor whom the Justice Department says is linked to the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The 555 Grove St. address has also been used by the International Institute for Islamic Thought, a nonprofit that U.S. investigators have linked to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Mr. Mirza is listed in business records as an officer of numerous companies, including Sterling Management Group, MarJac Investment Inc., and Hadid Holdings Inc.