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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 14, 2001
They are the elite of Saudi society: wealthy, respected men with investments that span the globe and reputations for generosity.
Yasin al-Qadi is among the prominent Saudis whom those in need of charity or shrewd business advice could turn to.
But the U.S. government now says that Qadi and many other well-connected Saudi citizens have transferred millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden through charities and trusts like the Muwafaq Foundation supposedly established to feed the hungry, house the poor and alleviate suffering.
In describing Muwafaq, which means "Blessed Relief" in Arabic, as a front for bin Laden's terror network, the Bush administration has put Saudi Arabia, one of its most important Middle East allies, in a delicate bind.
The Muwafaq Foundation has been administered by some of the kingdom's leading families. Qadi, a businessman and investor, was cited Friday on a list of those who support terrorism.
The foundation, however, was not mentioned. The reason, according to the New York Times, which cited administration officials it did not name, was the inability of U.S. officials to locate the charity or determine whether it is still in operation.
A statement accompanying the list Friday said this about the foundation: "Muwafaq is an al-Qaida front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen. Blessed Relief is the English translation. Saudi businessmen have been transferring millions of dollars to bin Laden through Blessed Relief."
In 1995, the trustees of the Muwafaq Foundation filed a libel suit in London against the newsletter Africa Confidential for linking the foundation to terrorist activities in Africa. The publication lost the lawsuit.
Court papers in that case, provided by Steven Emerson, a writer and commentator on terrorism, list the trustees as Qadi (under the spelling Yassin Quadi) and five others, including two members of the bin Mahfouz family.
"They are the creme de la creme of Saudi society," said Patrick Smith, editor of Africa Confidential. The bin Mahfouz family controls the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, which is the kingdom's largest bank and is the banker to the royal family. Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz paid $225-million, including a $37-million fine, to escape possible charges in connection with the 1991 collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
Smith said that one year ago the six trustees wrote a letter referring to Muwafaq as "their former foundation" and they "gave no details about why or its status."
The lawyer in London who represented Qadi in the suit, Peter Carter-Ruck, did not return a phone call.
Qadi -- under the spelling Kadi -- is a major investor and director of Global Diamond Resources, a diamond exploration company in San Diego. Public records show that he is involved in real estate, consulting, chemical and banking companies in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakstan and Pakistan.
The chairman of Global Diamond, Johann de Villiers, said of Qadi, "The guy I know is a very nice guy." He said he understood that Qadi had significant investments in the American stock market as well as some investments in Malaysia.
De Villiers traced Qadi's investment in his company to a meeting in London in December 1998. The meeting included an investment banker and some other Middle Eastern investors, including a senior member of the bin Laden family, who had invested in the diamond company one year earlier.
The bin Laden family controls one of the most powerful business groups in Saudi Arabia, and its members have publicly disowned Osama bin Laden.
De Villiers said it was the assurances of the bin Laden family that gave him the confidence he needed to accept Qadi's $3-million investment in his small company.
"I relied on the representations of the bin Laden family," de Villiers said. "They vouched for him."
This is not the first time that Qadi has come to the attention of the U.S. government in connection with the financing of terrorist activities. He was identified as the major source of funds for a money laundering scheme for the Palestinian group Hamas. The case occurred in June 1998, when the Justice Department froze the funds of a foundation near Chicago called the Koranic Literacy Institute and one of its important volunteers, Muhammad A. Salah, for funneling money to Hamas, which the State Department says is a foreign terrorist organization. According to court documents, the money was ultimately traced to Qadi.
The government said that in 1991, Qadi, whom it described as a Saudi businessman, transferred by wire about $820,000 from a Swiss bank account for investment purposes. The transaction was intended to conceal the source of the money, which was from Qadi. The government said some of the money was ultimately used by Salah to help purchase weapons and reorganize the Hamas leadership in the West Bank and Gaza.
Senior Saudi officials on Saturday rejected U.S. accusations that the kingdom is not choking off the money supply to Osama bin Laden, accusing Washington of leveling charges against groups or individuals here without providing any proof.
"We believe firmly that fighting terrorism is done by removing the infrastructure, and one of the main elements of the infrastructure is the financial element," said Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister. "So there is absolutely no truth in saying we have not been cooperating in this."