Breaking News: Ex-GOP Congressman Indicted in Terror Money Ring

The Associated Press reports that former Republican Congressman Mark Deli Siljander was indicted for money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in a terrorist financing ring.

A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

More from the Kansas City Star:

According to the new charges, the charity sent about $130,000 in 2003 and 2004 to bank accounts in Pakistan, allegedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned by Glubuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan mujahideen leader.

The U.S. government designated Hekmatyar as a global terrorist in February 2003 because of his links to al Qaida and the Taliban.

The new charges also accuse Mark Deli Siljander, who represented Michigan in Congress from 1981-1987, of receiving $50,000 from the charity in 2004. Siljander, who operates a Washington D.C. public relations firm, was hired to lobby Congress to remove the charity from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.