Irish Passport Holding Saudi Sheikh Helped Bin Laden Work

Irish Passport Holding Saudi Sheikh Helped Bin Laden Work

by Frank Connolly
The Business Post (Sunday) [Irish newspaper]
October 7, 2001

Dublin, Ireland - The Saudi sheikh who was given 11 Irish passports by Charles Haughey in 1990 was an investor in President George W Bush's oil company while providing millions of dollars to charities controlled by Osama bin Laden.

An audit on the National Commerce Bank in Saudi Arabia -- owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz before he was placed under house arrest last year -- showed that the bank had funnelled millions of dollars into the Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief charities.

The 1998 audit confirmed that $ 3 million from a Saudi pension fund and an undisclosed amount believed to be tens of millions of dollars were deposited in bank accounts in New York and London for the charities.

Three years, ago the FBI confirmed that the charities were part of bin Laden's global financial network.

At a meeting in Paris in 1998, Mahfouz and international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi were among a number of prominent Arab businessmen who agreed to continue what have been described by US intelligence officials as "protection payments" to bin Laden.

The CIA believes that the Saudi monarchy is vulnerable to destabilisation by bin Laden and other fundamentalist organisations, and may not survive beyond five years.

A member of Mahfouz's family served on the board of the Blessed Islam charity in Sudan while the protection payments were being made.

Mahfouz was also an investor in Harken Energy, a US-controlled oil corporation which won a contract in Kuwait soon after the end of the Gulf War. George W Bush was a director in the company before he stood for the presidency.

It is believed that Harken Energy won the contract because of contacts between Kuwait and the president's father, George Bush senior, who led the Gulf War offensive.

According to US industry sources, the project proved difficult for Bush junior's company and was terminated prematurely.

Mahfouz and several members of his family received 11 Irish passports at a lunch in Dublin in December 1990. Former justice minister Ray Burke assisted with the processing of the passport applications, ignoring established procedures.

The sheikh bought a house in Meath in order to fulfil residence requirements, but never stayed or lived there, according to locals.

Mahfouz promised investments of GBP20 million in Ireland, although it remains unclear where half this amount was placed.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.