Blacklisted charities affiliated with Hezbollah have been directing supporters to send money through Lebanon’s booming digital payments sector, routing contributions to wallets held by private individuals rather than official charity accounts, the Financial Times reported.
The tactic, which leverages Beirut-based providers Whish Money and OMT, has the potential to circumvent sanctions-screening tools and Know-Your-Customer controls by funneling funds through payees who are not included on sanctions lists and may not have clear ties to the end beneficiary, according to the FT.
The investigation identified three organizations in Hezbollah’s welfare network—the Lebanese branch of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation (Emdad), the Martyr Foundation and the Wounded Foundation—that repeatedly asked donors to use Whish Money or OMT.
Staff at multiple Whish locations confirmed the wallets were active, and at least one phone number provided to donors appears on the Martyr Foundation’s website, the FT said. OMT tellers told reporters that recipients without OMT wallets could nonetheless collect cash sent in their name and phone number.
Evidence gathered by the newspaper shows the practice extends to cross-border fundraising.
In one case, a dollar transfer sent from the Democratic Republic of Congo via Whish’s international partner RIA reached an intermediary named by Emdad. The donor later received an Emdad receipt for a matching amount, according to documents and communications reviewed by the FT.
Another prospective donor seeking to give more than $10,000 to Emdad was told to split the sum into smaller tranches and send them to several named individuals, according to the report.
Whish has partnered with Visa and Mastercard and recently secured a Canadian license while OMT is Western Union’s longstanding agent in Lebanon and is also partnered with Visa, the newspaper noted. There is no indication that Visa or Mastercard rails were used in the transfers examined by the newspaper.
Read more at the Financial Times