THE SAUDI SUER--ACCORDING TO HIS OWN LAWYERS. Investors Business Daily writes that in fear of lawsuits, publishers have absolved Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz of any connection to terrorism--

Problem is, bin Mahfouz's own lawyers admit on the sheik's Web site that he was "the principal donor" to the Muwafaq Foundation (also known as Blessed Relief), which the Treasury Department in October 2001 named as "an al-Qaida front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen."

Treasury at the same time listed a foundation trustee, Yassin Qadi, as a specially designated global terrorist.

U.S. court documents allege that "(Qadi) and other well-connected Saudi citizens transferred millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden through charities and trusts like the Muwafaq Foundation."

The 58-year-old sheik's son, Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz, was a director of the foundation. To be fair, neither has been blacklisted by Treasury as a terrorist. But the implication is clear.

Mark Steyn confirms:

In October 2001, the Treasury Department named Muwafaq as "an al-Qaida front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen" and its chairman as a "specially designated global terrorist." As the Treasury concluded, "Saudi businessmen have been transferring millions of dollars to bin Laden through Blessed Relief."

Yet bin Mahfouz claims on his website:

Q: Has any US government department or agency alleged that Muwafaq Foundation is linked to the financing of terrorism, in particular Al-Qaeda?
A: To the best of our knowledge, no such allegations have ever been made and no statement in this respect has been published in any official government press release or posted on any official government web site.

How can he deny that the Treasury Department explicitly made this connection back in 2001?
If you go to the Treasury Department website and do a search for Muwafaq (or Muwaffaq)--your search will come up empty.

Unlike publishing companies, the Treasury can and should keep this sort of information readily and publicly available--especially in light of bin Mahfouz's attempt to bury it.

That the Treasury Department did in fact make a connection between Muwafaq and Al Qaeda is clear. CNN reported on October 15, 2001:

ZAHN: Well, let's for starters, talk about some of those names that we saw surface on that government list that came out on Friday night. How vivid an example is that of any Saudi role in all of this?

FRANK: Well, one of the names on the list is a man named Yasin Al-Qadi. Now, my sources in the government tell me that the foundation he ran funneled at least $3 million to bin Laden in the form of contributions from wealthy Saudi businessmen. [Al-Qadi, who once headed the Muwafaq Foundation, said Monday he has never sent money to bin Laden or al Qaeda.]

In Alms For Jihad, J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins confirm:

After 9/11 the Foreign Assets Control Department of the US Treasury conducted its own investigation of Yassin Abdullah al-Qadi, whom they called a “wealthy businessman” used “by wealthy Saudi businessmen to transfer millions of dollars to Bin Laden.” His assets in the USA were then frozen.

There is clearly more to this than bin Mahfouz is letting on.

Technorati Tag: Khalid bin Mahfouz and Muwafaq Foundation and Blessed Relief and Alms For Jihad.