Friday, July 09, 2010
Republican Mark Siljander, who represented a Michigan district in Congress during the 1980s, is facing up to 15 years in prison and a fine of half a million dollars for his work helping an Islamic charity deemed a supporter of terrorists.
After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, Siljander opened a consulting firm and was later hired by the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) to lobby U.S. senators to get IARA removed from a list of charities support terrorist groups. The Department of the Treasury had designated IARA, which was founded in 1985, as a global terrorist organization in October 2004, claiming it had ties to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Siljander tried to conceal his work for IARA by having his payments funneled through nonprofit organizations. He eventually pled guilty to obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Ex-Michigan Congressman Mark Siljander Pleads to Obstruction (by Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press)
Mark D. Siljander (Wikipedia)
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