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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (247958)	11/10/2007 1:48:26 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Bank robber pleads guilty, says money went to rebels MICHEL COMTE Agence France-Presse, with a report from The Canadian Press November 8, 2007 A Canadian bank robber who pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing an antique jewellery piece made for a 19th-century Austrian empress also revealed he was funding Kurdish rebels in Iraq. Gerald Blanchard, 35, pleaded guilty to 16 charges in a Winnipeg court for his role in fraud and bank heists. As well, the court heard that he had funnelled money from stolen credit cards to Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. According to prosecutors, Mr. Blanchard and two other Canadians had travelled to Cairo to use fraudulently obtained credit cards and debit information to get cash they then sent to a man in Britain identified only as "the Boss." In a wiretap transcript, Mr. Blanchard is overhead saying the Boss planned to use that money to finance activities of Kurdish fighters and possibly other terrorist groups. "His lawyer said the money went to the Kurdish freedom fighters in Iraq - that was his exact words. We knew the money was used to fund terrorism," Crown attorney Sheilla Leinburd said. "It was a large-scale operation. It was going on in Spain and other European countries at the same time. This was not the only cell that was operating." Mr. Blanchard was sentenced to eight years in prison for running a criminal organization, Ms. Leinburd said. British authorities know the identity of the Boss, but have not revealed him to their Canadian counterparts, she added. Canadian police recovered the Koechert Diamond Pearl, also known as the Star of Empress Sisi, from a Winnipeg house during a raid in June at the cusp of a two-year investigation of a string of bank break-ins across Canada. It was stolen in June, 1998, from a secure glass display, equipped with an alarm, on exhibition at Castle Schonbrunn in Vienna. The exhibit had marked the centennial anniversary of the assassination of Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Empress Sisi. Mr. Blanchard - who was born in Winnipeg, grew up in the United States and most recently lived in B.C. - had previously agreed to liquidate his assets, which will net around $500,000. The money will go to the banks he defrauded. theglobeandmail.com