Saudi businessman Yassin Al-Kadi is one of the 12 figures named on the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s list of individual’s accused of funneling money to the Al-Qaeda network. The list is currently being circulated to financial institutions worldwide.
Last October, US President George W. Bush presented a second list of organizations and people whose property had been frozen and were prohibited from maintaining economic activities. Included in this list was Al-Kadi, residing at the time in the US, because of monies he transferred to Al-Qaeda’s leader Osama Bin Laden.
Kadi was also accused transferring funds to the Islamic Resistant Movement (Hamas). After former Israeli Prime Minister Itzchak Rabin banished the Hamas leadership to Lebanon in December 1992, Kadi headed efforts to financially rehabilitate the terrorist organization.
In a complicated financial mission, including land purchase deals in Illinois, the Saudi businessman deposited $820,000 to the bank account of the “Institute for the Study of the Koran” headed by Muhammad Saleh. Saleh, who acted on behalf of Musa Marzouk, head of the Hamas, was sent to Israel with money to be handed over to activists in Gaza and the West Bank.
Director of Nevada-based Global Diamond Resources, Al-Kadi has been labeled by the US government as a foreign terrorist entity. Along with Al-Kadi on the Board of Directors are representatives of the Bin Laden family. In regards to the company’s decision to let Al-Kadi join as an investor, the company’s Chairman Johann de Villiers said, “I relied on the representations of the Bin Laden family. They vouched for him.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that a recent government crackdown in Albania indicated that some businesses in the country may have links to the Al-Qaeda terror network. A project of Al-Kadi to construct 15-story twin towers in central Tirana came under suspicion.
Ardian Visha, a spokesman for the Albanian Prosecutor-General's Office, said Al-Kadi was suspected of laundering some $10 million in Albania for Al-Qaeda. The Albanian government had seized control of the site.
"In both buildings, a Saudi Arabian citizen named Yassin Kadi turned out to be the co-owner, contractor and customer [the one who ordered the buildings]. The Finance Ministry has charged him with money laundering, and he is suspected of having financed terrorist members of the Al-Qaeda organization," Visha was quoted as saying. "We have filed a request with the Tirana courts to temporarily confiscate this property and freeze any bank accounts this individual has in Albania." — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
