"Saudi investor helped fund terrorists, U.S. says
Al-Qadi and other wealthy men are suspected of transferring millions to bin Laden.
October 13, 2001
BY JEFF GERTH and JUDITH MILLER
The New York Times
They are the elite of Saudi society - wealthy, respected men with investments that span the globe and reputations for generosity.
Yasin al-Qadi is among the prominent Saudis whom those in need of charity or shrewd business advice could turn to.
But the U.S. government says al-Qadi and many other well-connected Saudi citizens have transferred millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden through charities and trusts such as the Muwafaq Foundation supposedly established to feed the hungry, house the poor and alleviate suffering.
In describing Muwafaq, which means "Blessed Relief" in Arabic, as a front for bin Laden's terror network, the Bush administration has put Saudi Arabia, one of its most important Middle East allies, in a delicate bind.
The Muwafaq Foundation has been administered by some of the kingdom's leading families. Al-Qadi, a businessman and investor, was cited Friday on a list of those who support terrorism.
The foundation, however, was not mentioned. The reason, administration officials said, was the inability of U.S. officials to locate the charity or determine whether it is still in operation.
A statement accompanying the list Friday said this about the foundation: "Muwafaq is an al-Qaida front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen. Blessed Relief is the English translation. Saudi businessmen have been transferring millions of dollars to bin Laden through Blessed Relief."
In 1995, the trustees of the Muwafaq Foundation filed a libel suit in London against the newsletter Africa Confidential for linking the foundation to terrorist activities in Africa. The publication lost the lawsuit.
Court papers in that case, provided by Steven Emerson, a writer and commentator on terrorism, list the trustees as al-Qadi (under the spelling Yassin Quadi) and five others, including two members of the bin Mahfouz family.
"They are the creme de la creme of Saudi society," said Patrick Smith, editor of Africa Confidential. The bin Mahfouz family controls the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, which is the kingdom's largest bank and is the banker to the royal family. Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz paid $225 million, including a $37 million fine, to escape possible charges in connection with the 1991 collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
Smith said that one year ago, the six trustees wrote a letter referring to Muwafaq as "their former foundation" and they "gave no details about why or its status."
The lawyer in London who represented al-Qadi in the suit, Peter Carter-Ruck, did not return a phone call.
Al-Qadi - under the spelling Kadi - is a major investor and director of Global Diamond Resources, a diamond exploration company based in San Diego.
Public records show he is involved in real estate, consulting, chemical and banking companies in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
The chairman of Global Diamond, Johann de Villiers, said he understood that al-Qadi had significant investments in the American stock market as well as in Malaysia. |
