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HERE'S THE PROOF
Oct 3 2001
By Oonagh Blackman
THE first proof of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the terror attacks on
America was revealed yesterday.
Investigators have discovered that three of the suicide hijackers returned a
$15,000 surplus from the estimated $500,000 attack fund to a bin Laden
contact's account in Dubai just 48 hours before the atrocities.
They were obeying the orders of bin Laden, who is said to be penny-pinching
despite his multi-million pound fortune.
Government officials in the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf have uncovered
bank accounts in Dubai linked to a man described as a key bin Laden "money
man".
The man arrived in the UAE at the end of June and left for Pakistan on
September 11, the day the terrorists struck New York and Washington.
On September 9 the man, who has not been named by the UAE authorities,
received three separate wire transfers from America totalling $15,000.
UAE officials said the cash was left over from planning the US atrocities
and was returned to finance new attacks.
Sources said one $5,000 payment was sent by Marwan al-Shehhi, one of the
hijackers on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade
Center south tower.
The other two, both of $5,000 each, were sent by ringleader Mohamed Atta and
Waleed M Alshehri, who were on American Airlines Flight 11 that hit the WTC
north tower.
A senior source close to the investigation yesterday described it as
"shocking...that at least three of the hijackers were tying up loose ends
like surplus cash only 48 hours before they went out to kill thousands of
innocent people.
"But their actions have blown up in their faces because they have opened up
important new leads in the hunt to disrupt bin Laden's financial empire.
"It has taken us closer to the money men who are bankrolling evil."
The payments to the bin Laden money man, believed to be a Saudi passport
holder, are another crucial piece of the jigsaw linking bin Laden to the US
attacks.
And they have opened up new leads in the investigation into the complex
finances of the terrorist leader's Al Qaeda organisation.
Investigators believe a money trail linking bin Laden to the US attacks was
orchestrated by one his most trusted aides. Cash to fund the hijackings
flowed between banks in at least three countries in the run-up to the
atrocities.
Sheikh Saeed, also known as Mustafa Mohamed Ahmad, was identified as a key
financial manager for bin Laden, bankrolling terrorists preparing for the
September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington.
The base for a number of bank accounts controlled by Ahmad is thought to be
Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates central bank has now frozen all of Ahmad's accounts
and accounts linked to 25 other people and organisations identified by US
Treasury officials as al-Qaeda suspects.
Another 13 bank accounts, holding £900,000, have been frozen in the German
cities of Munich and Hamburg.
Investigators traced money transfers to Florida on September 8 and 9, from
an account under Ahmad's name in Dubai.
The funds were paid to Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 19 hijackers.
Investigators have also identified a further transfer of cash from a bank
account in Florida, where Atta stayed, to Dubai before September 11.
Ahmad did the financial fixing for several hijackers to live in Florida and
pay for flying lessons.
A UAE government minister disclosed that a man with a Saudi Arabian
passport - suspected to be Ahmad - left the UAE for Pakistan on the day of
the US attacks.
The FBI is chasing up to 100,000 leads as it tries to nail down the
international cash flow.
A Muslim terrorist said to have confessed to planning to blow up the US
Embassy in Paris on the orders of bin Laden has denied any involvement.
Lawyers for Franco-Algerian Djamel Beghal, who was extradited to France from
Dubai on Monday, said yesterday: "He has contested being commissioned by
anybody to organise, prepare and carry out terrorist acts, notably against
US interests in Paris."
They added that earlier statements by Beghal linking him with bin Laden were
made in "indeterminate circumstances" in Dubai.
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