Oops! Building on my last post on the NRCC’s bogus Business Advisory Council and “Businessman of the Year” program, it turns out that Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari isn’t the first member of the council to be indicted on charges of supporting terrorism.
Yasith Chhun, the head of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was indicted in May of 2005 for charges of plotting to overthrow the Cambodian government. He was also, The Los Angeles Times reported, a member of the NRCC’s Business Advisory Council:
Before his federal indictment this week [Chuun] had raised $6,550 for the National Republican Congressional Committee and was invited to sit on the group’s Business Advisory Council, which has tens of thousands of members nationwide, said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the committee….Chhun attended the annual meeting of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s business advisory council in Washington, D.C., last year. [NRCC Spokesman Carl] Forti said the committee did not know Chhun’s group had been designated a terrorist organization, saying it was impossible to do background checks on all its members.
“At this point, the gentleman hasn’t been convicted of anything,” Forti said. If he is a terrorist, “it’s something we need to look at. Clearly, we wouldn’t want any leader of a terrorist organization being members of our business advisory council.”
Chhun was even a cause celebre of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who “remained a supporter of Chhun and his allies because of their passionate efforts to topple the Cambodian government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen.”
Despite having powerful friends, Chhun was indicted for “attempting to kill the prime minister, attack government buildings and launch small-scale attacks on karaoke bars and fuel depots in an effort to galvanize opposition to the Phnom Penh government,” along with raising between $100,000 and $200,000 for his group’s activities, the Times reported.
His trial is due to start next month.