http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/9658176/detail.html By URS-PETER INDERBITZIN Associated Press Writer LAUSANNE, Switzerland Swiss authorities will provide the United States with details from bank accounts U.S. investigators suspect of being involved in terrorist funding, a Justice Ministry official said Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the documents will be handed over this month now that Switzerland's highest court has approved the transfer, rejecting the appeal by a firm owned by two Saudi Arabian citizens, a father and his son. The Saudis said in their appeal that the funds had simply come from private investments conforming to Islamic law. They denied any involvement in terrorist financing. In the ruling disclosed Wednesday, the Federal Tribunal approved the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia, which had been pending since 2002 as part of an investigation into money laundering and support of terrorist activities. The U.S. prosecutor requested the account information as part of an investigation into some 100 charitable organizations "which are providing by means of complex financial transactions support to terrorist operations," the ruling said. The United States suspects the organizations of having "links to al-Qaida, Hamas and the Palestinian Jihad," said the ruling, handed down July 4 but kept secret until the court released it Wednesday. None of the individuals involved in the U.S. investigation were identified. The U.S. said more than US$26 million was transferred to "entities" in the British Isle of Man owning bank accounts in Switzerland. The money was then given to the charitable organizations, the court said. The United States also alleged that further money transfers of US$5.8 million and US$1.6 million took place in August 2001 from one of the organizations to a Swiss bank account owned by the Saudis, the court said. There was no indication in the court document that the transfer was linked to the attacks on the United States the following month _ on Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. authorities in 2004 informed the Swiss that further investigations showed that the charitable organization that sent money to the Saudis' account in 2001 subsequently had transferred its entire assets to an account owned by the father and son in the English Channel island of Jersey. A major part of those funds was then sent on to one of the Saudis' accounts in Zurich, the ruling said. The judgment represents the final rejection of the appeal and allows Switzerland to hand over the banking records to the U.S. 060809 160041 Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. 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