Lawyers acting for terrorism victims in a US court case that accuses Bank of China of helping Iranian-backed militant groups to fund operations say they have identified a new witness who will bolster their case, which has been hindered by the Israeli government’s reluctance to embarrass Beijing.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israeli attorney representing 22 families of terror victims, said that the claimants’ lawyers planned to subpoena Stuart Levey, a former US Treasury official they believe warned BoC in 2007 about accounts linked to Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
“Stuart Levey comes with direct information – firsthand knowledge regarding the Bank of China itself,” said Ms Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin, the Israeli civil rights organisation that has obtained more than $120m for claimants in similar cases brought in the US against Iran, the Palestinian Authority, North Korea, and others.