Sulaiman Al-Ali Last Updated: October 13, 2008
In 1991, Sulaiman Al-Ali, a prominent,
wealthy Saudi Arabian was sent to the United States to distribute money for the
International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which was later declared a US
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group.IIRO purported to raise money for poor Muslims in war-torn countries, but in fact it sent millions of dollars to Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. IIRO received major support from the Saudi Royal family, including Saudi ruler Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, — Bush family business colleague and father of former US ambassador Prince Bandar.
Al-Ali was a member of the IIRO’s executive committee, and in the US, he deposited nearly $4 million dollars with a small New Jersey investment company named BMI. That money somehow just disappeared. Most of BMI’s principals had ties to the Bush family through business, political donations or US Government contracts, and were also later named SDGTs as well.. They included:
- Abduraham Alamoud i-regular White House guest, through GOP operative Grover Norquist, until convicted of plotting to assassinate Saudi Royals and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
- Two Bin Laden brothers - principals of companies awarded US Government contract,s and investors in George HW Bush’s Carlyle Group.
- Yassin Al-Qadi – owner of a small IT company named Ptech, which somehow was put in charge of the US Government’s most critical computer systems (including the FAA), until declared a SDGT two weeks after 911.
- Soliman Biheiri –BMI president as well as principal in Ptech, later convicted on immigration charges and sentenced to twenty six months in prison.
- Khalid Mahfouz - major principal
of BCCI, later described by prosecutors as
the ” largest financial fraud in world history,” and provider of $25 million to
bailout George W Bush’s Harken Energy
company in 1987.
In August 1998 Al-Ali suddenly returned to Saudi Arabia, the same month Al Qaeda simultaneously set off two bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 200 people. Where the IIRO money Al-Ali gave to BMI went remains unknown.
BMI’s President Biheiri offered little explanation for the funds’ disappearance, other than that he had “mismanaged them.”
Eleven days after the bombings, Sana-Bell filed an apparently sham lawsuit against al-Ali and BMI for the $3.8 million that disappeared. Despite years of running Sana-Bell's finances, Sana-Bell claimed that al-Ali lacked authority to transact on its behalf.
According to a sworn statement filed by FBI anti- terror finance chief Robert Wright, BMI’s accountant confessed he believed money he’d transferred overseas helped finance the attacks.
Along with other BMI contributors, Al-Ali’s business address was 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia. Five months after 9/11, Federal agents finally raided that office and another across the street, identified as the epicenter more than a dozen business and charity fronts (part of the SAAR Foundation) financing terror. Criminal cases resulting from the raids were ongoing as of April 2008.
Sulaiman Al-Ali, according to Saudi officials, was arrested in 1999, but released on bail.
No further information from the Saudis has been forthcoming.
Categories
Homeland Security | Terror Funding | Information Technology | International Finance
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