As noted, Hezbollah also exploited close political connections in Gambia during the presidency of Yahya Jammeh, who pillaged his country’s resources during his twenty-one-year rule. Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, a Belgian-Lebanese dual national, was part of Jammeh’s inner circle of foreign businessmen who greatly benefited from the president’s corrupt rule. Billingslea, then Treasury assistant secretary, accused Bazzi of involvement in human trafficking, among other illicit activities, which, according to Billingslea, he was able to conduct thanks to his close relationship with Gambia’s Jammeh. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Bazzi in 2018, highlighting his close connection to what it called “the corrupt former leader of The Gambia who, in addition to ordering targeted assassinations, plundered The Gambia’s state coffers for his personal gain.” Billingslea went further, explicitly accusing Bazzi of involvement in human trafficking, among other illicit activities he was able to conduct thanks to his close relationship with Gambia’s Jammeh. Bazzi sued Treasury to have his designation removed, but failed in his bid and settled out of court in 2021. He remained under sanctions and was arrested in Romania in February 2023, pursuant to a U.S. international arrest warrant on money laundering charges. During Jammeh’s presidency, Bazzi, too, gained the status of honorary consul for Gambia in Lebanon. In this instance, at least, the United States also sanctioned former president Jammeh and his wife on corruption charges.

As the above examples show, throughout the years, U.S. sanctions have occasionally revealed the systemic corruption of ruling elites who act as facilitators for organized crime and terror finance. The Biden administration’s decision to elevate the fight against global corruption to a national security priority is commendable, and it should now systematically highlight the inextricable link between corruption, organized crime, and Hezbollah’s terror finance. While sanctions against corrupt foreign officials make an impact, exposing the ultimate beneficiaries of their corruption, who often turn out to be those paying the bribes, will further multiple aspects of the Biden administration’s national security agenda.

It is corruption that allows the movement of illicit merchandise and dirty money on a global scale. It buys impunity for those engaged in illicit conduct and irreparably undermines democratic institutions as it bends the law to favor criminals, interferes with fairness in the allocation of public contracts, impedes and derails investigations, and in some cases, even leads to the removal, or downright murder, of prosecutors and judges who refuse to take bribes. It also provides influence over political processes and electoral outcomes that can benefit crime and terror finance networks, whose bought-off politicians and officials will continue to protect them. Finally, corruption may grant criminal syndicates and terror groups like Hezbollah critical access to state secrets.

Making global corruption a national security priority is the right decision. Recognizing Hezbollah’s systematic reliance on corruption to facilitate its illicit finance networks would make the White House strategy more effective.

Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based non-partisan research institution. Follow him on Twitter @eottolenghi. 

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