Author: Douglas Farah
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 24, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=35900
The FBI, in an unprecedented move,
has subpoenaed records for dozens of bank accounts belonging to the Saudi
Embassy, as part of an investigation into whether any of the millions of
dollars Riyadh spends in the US each year end up in the hands of Muslim
extremists, US and Saudi officials said.
The investigation into the $300
million a year the Saudi Embassy spends here was launched this summer.
US officials said FBI's Washington office subpoenaed the records of Saudi
bank accounts to determine if the Saudi government knowingly or unknowingly
helped fund extremists.
Although many Saudi entities have
been investigated in the past, officials said this was the first investigation
to directly probe Saudi funds. The probe, US officials said, was approved
by the National Security Council working group on terrorist financing.
The probe focuses on the financial activities of the Islamic and Cultural
Affairs Office of the embassy and Saudi consulates.
The subpoenas outraged Saudi officials.
''We became aware of them in August, and told the Americans, 'If you want
this information, why didn't you ask us? We would have given it to you',''
an official said. The Saudi government subsequently turned over embassy
records for the past 20 years, including records of Saudi payments for
educational expenses and medical attention.
The investigation of Saudi money
was first reported by the Los Angeles Times last week. The subpoenas strained
the relationship between the two countries, which are grappling with mutual
distrust and suspicion, even as they try to forge an alliance in the war
on terrorism. American law enforcement officials have gone out of their
way to praise Saudi cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda, but questions remain
about whether millions of dollars still flow from the kingdom to radical
causes. Saudi officials said they have opened their banking system and
intelligence operations to the US, but are still treated as junior partners.
Senior Saudi officials deny any
ties between their government and terrorist groups. (LAT-WP)
