-Caveat Lector-
Copyright 2001 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
The Scotsman
September 20, 2001, Thursday
SECTION: Pg. 5
LENGTH: 1333 words
HEADLINE: GOLD AT THE END OF A TRAIL OF BLOOD
BYLINE: Fred Bridgland
BODY:
Every bottle of Coca-Cola may be profit for bin Laden Bin Laden siphons
funds from Islamic charities Al-Qaeda has interests in diamond mines in
Tanzania
Osama bin Laden's assets are hidden in a financial maze, but are used to
fund
his attacks on the West
His personal fortune, built from $ 80 million he inherited aged 13 from
his
father, is estimated at $ 300 million, spread across a web of interests
ranging
from legitimate investments to shadowy front organisations that enable him
to
buy the tools of his terrorist trade with minimal scrutiny.
Much of what is known about bin Laden's finances was revealed when four
of
his followers were tried in connection with the 1998 bombings of the US
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Former bin Laden confidante and money
handler
Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, who turned FBI informer, said he keeps his money in
banks
in the UK, Sudan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Cyprus, the Philippines
and
the Gulf Emirates.
But it has proved difficult to trace bin Laden's assets and freeze them
because he orders his labyrinthine financial transactions through
pseudonyms,
members of the same kind of secretive cells that carried out the attacks,
and a
wide variety of other middle men who leave no paper trail.
US officials believe he has major investments in agricultural companies,
banking/ investment firms, construction companies and import-export firms
worldwide.
Bin Laden does not depend solely on his personal fortune to finance his
Al
-Qaeda ("The Base") group. Wealthy Arab well-wishers in the Middle East,
especially in the Gulf states, have given him support. He has also siphoned
funds from Islamic charities which take funds from worshippers to fund
orphanages, hospitals, the printing of Korans and food supplies to poor
Muslims
in Africa and Asia as part of Islam's teaching that believers should give
part
of their wealth to the needy. At some point, part of those flows are
believed to
be diverted to Al-Qaeda and other radical movements.
Al-Qaeda has particularly large holdings in the Sudan. The Al-Hijrah
PAGE 2
The Scotsman, September 20, 2001
Construction Company, believed to be entirely owned by Al-Qaeda, built the
country's main 750-mile highway from Khartoum to Port Sudan and Port Sudan's
new
airport. The company is also believed to have earned $ 45 million from a
contract to expand Islam's holiest shrines at Mecca and Medina.
Other Al-Qaeda interests include finance and investment companies,
cattle
gene banks, sweet and honey production, transport companies, sunflower
plantations, wheat farms, leather tanning, fruit and vegetable exports and
camel
breeding (Sudan); ostriches, fishing fleets and dog breeding (Kenya);
forestry
(Turkey); lemons, olives, raisins, hazelnuts and almonds (Tajikistan);
diamonds
(Tanzania); lapis lazuli (Uganda); ceramic manufacturing (Yemen); and
finance
holding companies (Switzerland, Netherlands and Luxembourg).
Intelligence agencies say he has managed to import Barrett 50mm calibre
rifles, night vision goggles and night vision scopes from the US; scuba gear
and
range finders from Britain; phone equipment from Germany; uranium from South
Africa; and trucks and automobiles from Dubai and Russia.
A wide variety of banks in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait
are essential to bin Laden's operations. It is there that front
organisations
transact Al-Qaeda business and transfer funds. Bin Laden's Dubai-based
brother
-in-law Mohammad Jamal Khalifa is believed to be a key figure. US
investigators
say there is evidence that when Khalifa was head of the Islamic Relief
Agency, a
quasi-government Saudi charity based in the Philippines, he had contact with
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a British-trained electrical engineer convicted for the
1993
World Trade Centre bombing.
Bin Laden is also suspected to fund Al-Qaeda though his involvement in
Afghanistan's billion-dollar opium trade. Some reports suggest he creams a
ten
per cent commission on the $ 8 billion yearly trade for helping the Taleban
authorities market the poppy crop.
During the recently completed trials into the bombings of America's East
African embassies in 1998, evidence emerged that Al-Qaeda was paying
Egyptians $
1,200-$ 1,500 a month to run various support operations in Sudan. Several of
the
terrorist hijackers US officials say piloted the doomed commercial aircraft
in
last week's attacks appear to have been well-funded, paying flight schools,
living in middle-class neighbourhoods, and spending significant amounts on
apartment and car rentals, restaurants and clothes.
Bin Laden has, of course, also been funded by the US, the current target
of
his wrath, while fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. When the CIA
launched a $ 500 million-per-year campaign to arm and train the impoverished
mujahideen guerrillas, among the "chosen" was Osama bin Laden's group, which
received money and weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which
remain
in the Al-Qaeda arsenal.
Osama Bin Laden's father, Mohamed, had four wives and 52 children, of
whom
Osama was the 17th son. Mohamed, who died in a helicopter crash in 1968,
built a
company, mainly in construction, which today employs 35,000 people
world -wide
and is worth $ 5 billion.
His son spent many of the first years of the war against the Soviets
travelling throughout Saudi Arabia and the Gulf to raise additional funds
for
the jihad against the Soviets. Some funding came directly from the Saudi
PAGE 3
The Scotsman, September 20, 2001
government, some from official mosques, and some from the kingdom's
financial
and business elite, including his late father's bin Laden Group. It was
during
this period that Osama must have begun constructing his web of Al-Qaeda
interests. "Guys like Bin Laden were bringing in up to $ 20-25 million a
month
from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs to underwrite the war," said Milt Bearden,
the
CIA station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989.
Bin Laden's financial empire is like an amoeba, always changing shape,
terribly difficult to locate. Nevertheless, he is beginning to face pressure
on
an unprecedented scale. Barclay's yesterday froze an account in Britain
thought
to belong to a person with links to bin Laden. Barclays declined to reveal
the
identity of the account holder or the where the account is held. Reports
suggest
the branch is in Notting Hill, London and the account ostensibly belonged to
a
war relief charity.
Judith Kipper at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington admitted identifying bin Laden assets would be "extremely tough."
She added: "There is a tremendous gap in our knowledge. There have been
a
lot of people looking for (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein's bank accounts
for
years and they haven't found them yet."
Evidence at the East African embassies bombing trial gave some glimpses
of
how bin Laden operates his financial network.
Products from his Sudanese companies were run through other countries,
such
as Cyprus, to evade international sanctions against Sudan and to allow for
better profits in the US and Europe. Several crops destined for America and
Europe were grown on a farm owned by bin Laden near Ed Damazin in eastern
Sudan
that also was used by Al-Qaeda for weapons and explosives training.
As well as the Barclay's account linked to bin Laden, the trial also
identified a Girocredit account in Vienna as leading to Al-Qaeda's leader. A
counterterrorism expert said he believed bin Laden was shifting his
financial
transactions to the Far East markets, possibly including China.
The trail seems endless. There is a 180-page Al-Qaeda manual which tells
bin
Laden's followers how to be inconspicuous when they go into the world beyond
Afghanistan - shave your beard, wear after-shave, live in new housing
developments where few know their neighbours.
It is the sort of subterfuge bin Laden will need in abundance to
distract
the West as its hunting packs search for his assets with unprecedented
commitment.
September 20, 2001
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