Saudi businessmen funding Bin Laden — US media report

The United States yesterday said it would continue to meet Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to discuss demands for the expulsion of Saudi-born Bin Laden, but officials cautioned that they expected no dramatic moves soon.

USA Today said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was expected to raise the issue with Saudi defence minister Prince Sultan during his visit to Washington next week.

It cited a Saudi government audit acquired by US Intelligence which showed that five of Saudi Arabia’s top business executivesordered the national Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom’s largest, to transfer personal funds, along with 3 million dollars diverted from a Saudi pension fund, to New York and London banks.

The money was deposited into the accounts of Islamic charities, including Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief, that serve as fronts for Bin Laden, according to the report.

Intelligence sources said the businessmen, who are worth more than $ 5 billion, were paying Bin Laden `protection money’ to stave off attacks on their businesses in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said.

Bin Laden, whose family runs the largest Saudi construction firm, has called for the overthrow of the Saudi government.

USA Today said the money transfers were discovered in April after the royal family ordered an audit of NCB and its founder and former chairman, Khalid Bin Mahfouz.

Mahfouz is now under `house arrest’ at a military hospital in the Saudi city of Taif, Intelligence officials said.

His successor, Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi,also heads the Capitol Trust Bank in New York and London, which US and British officials are investigating for allegedly transferring money to Bin Laden, USA Today reported.

Amoudi’s Washington lawyer, Vernon Jordan, could not be reached for comment. Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar Bin Sultan declined to comment on the report, USA Today said.