NY Times Article
WASHINGTON, June 2 ? The Saudi government said today that it was dissolving a large Riyadh-based charity, the Al Haramain Foundation, that has raised as much as $50 million a year and has been linked to the financing of terrorist organizations.
The move has been sought for several years by American officials, and it represents a major step by the Saudi government to assert control over a flow of money that has made the country a major source of financing for terrorist groups.
Saudi Arabia said it would merge assets held by Al Haramain and other charities into a single account to be overseen by a new national commission, whose distribution of Saudi money overseas would be subject to strict accounting.
The Saudi move was announced at a news conference at the Saudi Embassy in Washington that was attended by senior American officials. It came just days after the latest terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia killed 22 people, and it reflected what Bush administration officials have described as unprecedented determination on the part of Saudi authorities to combat terrorism, even at the risk of criticism from conservatives who have been the primary benefactors of Al Haramain and other Saudi charities.
Adel al-Jubeir, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, said the purpose of the new commission was "to ensure that the charity of our citizens goes to those who need it." Since the 1970's, Saudi Arabia's oil wealth and its self-image as a center of Islamic faith have made the kingdom a major source of charitable contributions, helping to feed and shelter impoverished people around the world.
The shutdown of Al Haramain has been a major goal for both the Clinton and Bush administrations, but until Tuesday, the Saudi government had limited its actions to smaller steps.
In January, the United States and Saudi Arabia acted jointly to seize the assets of Al Haramain Islamic Foundation's offices in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania and Pakistan by asking the United Nations to add them to its list of terrorist groups. And in March 2002, American and Saudi officials blocked the funds of Al Haramain's offices in Somalia and Bosnia, charging that the two branches diverted money to terrorist groups.
At its peak, Al Haramain's operation in Saudi Arabia alone, raised $40 million to $50 million a year, Mr. Jubeir said at the news conference today.
Saudi officials said the assets of Al Haramain and other charities will be folded into the new Saudi National Commission for Relief and Charity Work Abroad. The commission "will take over all aspects of private overseas aid operations and assume responsibility for the distribution of private charitable donations from Saudi Arabia," the Saudi Embassy said in a statement.
Mr. Jubeir said the new commission will be subject to strict financial legal oversight and will operate according to clear policies to ensure that charitable funds intended to help the needy are not misused.
It was not immediately clear which other Saudi charities in addition to Al Haramain would be affected by the move.
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States government has redoubled efforts to cut off the sources of financing for known terrorist organizations. Saudi Arabia itself has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks since last May, and it has won praise from American officials for taking new aggressive action in cracking down on militants, the clerics who support them, and on their sources of financing inside and outside Saudi Arabia.