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Khalid bin Mahfouz

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Khalid bin Mahfouz
File:Khalidbinmahfouz.jpg
Born1949
Saudi Arabia
OccupationInvestor
Websitehttp://www.binmahfouz.info


Khalid bin Mahfouz (Arabic: خالد بن محفوظ; born 1949) is a wealthy Saudi Arabian businessman accused of supporting al-Qaeda. The veracity of such accusations is controversial and supported mainly by allegations, as Mahfouz himself claims to "condemn terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations."[1]

Biography

Khalid bin Mahfouz is the second [citation needed] eldest son of Salim Ahmed bin Mahfouz, a Saudi entrepreneur who rose from being an illiterate moneychanger to the founder of the first bank in his country, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia (NCB). Salim Ahmed then became the personal banker of the Saudi royal family. He handed management of NCB, the largest bank in the country, to Khalid sometime in the 1980s.[2]

In 1990 Khalid bin Mahfouz acquired Irish citizenship through inward-investment procedures. The practices of the Haughey and Reynolds administrations between 1989 and 1994 are a matter of controversy in Ireland and are being investigated by the Moriarty Tribunal, but there is no question that bin Mahfouz acquired his citizenship legitimately under the procedures applicable at the time.

Bin Mahfouz is married with three children. His personal net worth was $3.2 billion in 2006, making him one of the richest people in the world; his family fortune is worth over $4 billion. He has been involved in various business and charitable organizations throughout his life.[3]

Controversies

BCCI

Bin Mahfouz was the director of BCCI, a huge financial conglomerate later convicted of money laundering, bribery, support of terrorism, arms trafficking, and many other crimes.[4] Bin Mahfouz personally owned a 20% stake in BCCI. He was not convicted of any crimes in relation to BCCI scandal; however, as Forbes Magazine reports,

A New York state grand jury indicted Khalid for fraud, and the U.S. Federal Reserve alleged that he breached banking regulations. He denied any wrongdoing. The charges were dropped in 1993, but only after Khalid agreed to pay $225 million, including $37 million in lieu of fines. Khalid together with NCB was also involved in a separate $253 million deal to settle claims with BCCI's creditors."[2]

Donations to Osama bin Laden in 1988

Craig Unger's book House of Bush, House of Saud claims that bin Mahfouz donated over $270,000 to Osama bin Laden's Islamist organization at the request of Osama's brother Salem bin Laden. Bin Mahfouz's lawyer stated: "This donation was to assist the US-sponsored resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and was never intended nor, to the best of Sheikh Khalid's knowledge, ever used to fund any 'extension' of that resistance movement in other countries."[5]

Alleged familial relationship with Osama bin Laden

In US Senate testimony in 1998, CIA Director James Woolsey stated that bin Mahfouz's sister is a wife of Osama bin Laden, making the two brothers-in-law. Bin Mahfouz has consistently denied this. Many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, Fortune Magazine, the Washington Post, and USA Today, reported that the two were brothers-in-law. Each publication has since issued a retraction, sometimes after lengthy litigation.

In the libel trial against Wall Street Journal, Woolsey testified that bin Mahfouz had been misidentified. Woolsey later stated, "I don't know what to say other than there was some confusion, but I never meant to refer to Bin Mahfouz's sister."[6]

Alleged NCB funding of al-Qaeda

Khalid bin Mahfouz has denied that NCB, his bank, was involved in funding an al-Qaeda group. According to reports, high-placed Saudi businessmen transferred millions of dollars through NCB to charities operating as fronts for al-Qaeda. Bin Mahfouz states that he could not have been aware of every wire transfer moving through the bank, and that he would not have allowed such transactions had he known they were taking place. There is no evidence that bin Mahfouz was personally involved in any of these transactions.

Additionally, Forbes reports:

[I]n 1999 the [Saudi] government stepped in, buying a controlling 50% stake of NCB from Khalid for at least $1 billion, partly used to wipe Khalid's debt from the books. Khalid and his family retained 34% ownership, but he again surrendered his management positions. . . The extent of Khalid's mismanagement at NCB remains shrouded. NCB has not issued audited numbers since 1998, but it did acknowledge last year that provisions for bad loans in 1999 and 2000 reached $934 million, covering 86% of its doubtful debt.[2]

NCB senior officials vehemently deny the existence of this audit.[7]

Muwaffaq Foundation

Khalid bin Mahfouz helped set up a charity organization called the Muwaffaq Foundation, Muwaffaq being Arabic for "blessed relief". He funded this charity with $30 million, and put his eldest son, Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz, on the board of directors. In October of 2001, the U.S. Treasury Department named Muwaffaq an al-Qaeda front organization. Neither Khalid nor Abdulrahman were accused of funding terrorism by the United States; however Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi Arabian man hired to run the charity, was named a supporter of terrorism by and had his assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department.[2] Khalid bin Mahfouz claims that he was not aware of the charity being used to fund terrorists. He has initiated an investigation of his own into Muwaffaq's activities.[citation needed]

Alleged ties to George W. Bush

Khalid bin Mahfouz inherited many assets from the Saudi Binladen Group when the group's director, Salem bin Laden, died in a plane crash in 1988. Among these was an interest in Arbusto Energy, a Houston oil firm founded by George W. Bush. Bin Mahfouz's holdings were managed by James R. Bath, a close friend to Bush and the former manager of Salem bin Laden's US assets.

After Arbusto merged into Harken Energy, bin Mahfouz continued to be tangentially involved in the company's affairs through BCCI representatives. Bush, Harken's CEO at the time, denies any knowledge of bin Mahfouz's involvement. According to the Modern History Project bin Mahfouz was the owner of Harken energy.[8]

UN designation

There have been numerous allegations that Khalid bin Mahfouz was named a terrorist financier by the United Nations. The controversy springs from a report prepared by JCB Consulting Group for the President of the Security Council of the United Nations in December of 2002. In this report Khalid was listed as one of seven "main individual Saudi sponsors of al Qaeda."[9] JCB Consulting claims that the report was issued at the request of the UN, but Alfonso Valdivieso, then president of the UN Security Council, denied commissioning the report in a letter sent to representatives of bin Mahfouz.[10] Valvdivieoso went on to state that the report was unsolicited and that "Mr Brisard's conduct and attitude is totally deceitful and marked by the intention to mislead."[10] Jean-Charles Brisard, of JCB Consulting, is a paid investigator for a group of 9/11 victims who are suing hundreds of defendants, including Khalid, for allegedly financing al Qaeda.[9]

References

  1. ^ Sedky, Cherif (2003-02-05). "Letter from Cherif Sedky, legal counsel for Khalid Bin Mahfouz and his immediate family, to Gunter Pleuger, President of the United Nations Security Council". Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  2. ^ a b c d Vardi, Nathan (2002-03-18). "Sins of the Father?". The World's Billionaires. Forbes. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  3. ^ Kroll, Luisa; Fass, Allison (2006-03-09). "Khalid Bin Mahfouz & family". The World's Billionaires. Forbes. Retrieved 2006-06-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Kerry, John; Brown, Hank (1992). "BCCI in the United States - Part Two: Acquisition, Consolidation, and Consequences". The BCCI Affair, A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations. United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ David, Leigh (2004-03-31). "Bush, the Saudi billionaire and the Islamists: the story a British firm is afraid to publish". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  6. ^ Silverstein, Ken (2003-02-26). "Top Investigator in 9/11 Victims' Lawsuit Faces Libel Action" (PDF). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  7. ^ Jackson, David; Cohen, Laurie; Manor, Robert; Salopek, Paul (2001-10-28). "Money trail leads to Saudi, U.S. says". Chicago Tribune.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Harken Energy". The Modern History Project. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  9. ^ a b Mowbray, Joel (2002-12-20). "Saudis Behaving Badly". National Review Online. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  10. ^ a b Valdivieso, Alfonso (2004-03-12). "Letter addressed to Kendall Freeman" (PDF). Bin Mahfouz Information. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
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