German Intelligence Secrets Fund – The Brotherhood’s ‘Imminent’ Danger
The Internal Affairs Committee of the German Parliament organized, last Monday, a hearing which lasted for two hours (3 p.m. until 5 p.m. local time) at the Parliament headquarters in Berlin.
The session, titled “Detection and Prevention of the Financing of Political Islam in Germany,” attended by nine experts, focused on a draft resolution submitted by the Christian Union, the largest opposition bloc in the country, in mid-March, demanding the detection and prevention of the financing of political Islam in Germany.
The session revolved around requests by the Christian Union to impose an obligation on companies and associations to disclose foreign funding sources to the responsible tax authorities and expanding the powers of the Constitutional Protection Authority (internal intelligence) in financial investigations.
In discussions at the session, Sinan Selen, the deputy head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Protection of the Constitution, presented a report on political Islam and the Brotherhood in German territory, revealing the intelligence’s vision of these organizations.
The report of the Vice-President of the Constitutional Protection Commission revealed three major organizations within the political Islam community, which are subject to strong monitoring by the Commission within the framework of the latter’s mandate to monitor organizations that represent a threat to the public order in the country.
These three organizations are the German Muslim Community Organization; the Brotherhood Umbrella Organization in Germany and the Islamic Center in Hamburg, which is the second-largest Iranian representation in the country after the Iranian embassy,” the report said.
The third censored organization is Turkish Millî Görüş, widely seen as the Turkish branch of the Brotherhood.
Political Islamist organizations “have massive funding activities in scope and scope”, the report said. “There is a great deal of evidence that these organizations are organizing large-scale fund-raising initiatives and raising large amounts of money.”
The report identified two main reasons for the success of fundraising for Islamism in Germany: the organization has a large infrastructure of associations and mosques, and a large base of followers throughout the country.
As is well known, there are also financial flows coming from abroad. For example, there are indications of direct government funding for the Islamic Center in Hamburg from Iran.
The report revealed difficulties in the intelligence community in monitoring the external financing of Islamist organizations. “We only record extracts of transactions, such as cash transfers, sometimes without a recipient account,” it said.
“It should be noted that intelligence methods used in financial investigations are tested and tested in advance. However, we have to put the idea that we can uncover the effects and structures of transnational networks in these (political Islam) circles in this way, in our perspective.”
“In fact, these investigations are facing more than one daunting obstacle, because in addition to the difficulties mentioned above, we are forced primarily to focus our work on individuals, not the entire network,” he said.
Financial flows among Islamists are tantamount to “secret letters of recognition” of the links between these organizations operating in Germany and larger networks abroad, he said.
The report by the deputy head of internal intelligence clearly stated that “Islamist organizations in particular operate with strategic patience in the depths of German society, and have a serious potential to undermine the foundations of the free democratic statute.”
The report identified a clear way to combat Islamist political organizations: “In combating criminal, extremist and terrorist organizations and efforts, there are clear foundations for effective performance: identifying the relevant characteristics and personal relationships in these organizations, understanding the roles, activities and objectives of actors, and examining financial planning and financing of these activities.”
Christophe de Vries, a prominent MP from the Christian Union, said during the parliamentary hearing last Monday that the funding of political Islamic organizations is an “important issue”, pointing out that the draft resolution drafted by the Christian Union is an important step in the way of facing this danger, “political Islam.”
Vries questioned the ability of security institutions to track the funding of political Islam organizations in the current situation in the German legal system.
Gottfried Koryo, an MP from the “Popular” Alternative for Germany party, raised the issue of external financing for the institutions of political Islam during the session, and stressed the need to establish transparent rules to uncover this funding and the beneficiaries thereof.
He also spoke about establishing chairs at universities to study political Islam critically, and providing information and knowledge needed to facilitate the fight against these organizations.
After Monday’s hearing, the Internal Affairs Committee is scheduled to continue discussing the draft resolution submitted by the Christian Union in mid-March, which was the focus of today’s hearing.
