by Jeffrey Steinberg

The U.S. government has known for years that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest source of funds for global jihadist terrorism, including direct evidence of Saudi funding of the 9/11 attacks. This goes far beyond the 28-page chapter from the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11. The report issued last year by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, exposed HSBC's role in funding global narcotics trafficking and terrorism, included an entire chapter on the HSBC's sordid ties to Al Rajhi Bank, the largest private bank in Saudi Arabia, with $59 billion in assets and over 500 branches. The bank was founded by the Al Rajhi brothers, led by Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi, chairman of the board of the bank and a pivotal Al Qaeda financier, according to a number of U.S. government reports from the CIA and the Treasury Department.

Credit: Information Office of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C.

In March 2002, in a raid on the Bosnian offices of the Benevolence International Foundation, a Saudi charity known to conduit money to Al Qaeda, investigators turned up an entire computer hard drive, documenting the terrorist group's funding apparatus, which was dubbed "the Golden Chain." Among the 20 top funders of Al Qaeda identified in one document on the hard drive was Sulaiman Al Rajhi. At the same time that the Bosnia raid occurred, the FBI was raiding the northern Virginia offices of the SAAR Foundation, a front for the Al Rajhi group linked both to the Muslim Brotherhood and other hardcore terrorist cells around the globe. "Operation Green Quest" targeted the SAAR Foundation and the affiliated Safa Group of charitable and business fronts, all tied to the Saudi regime.

In 2003, the CIA produced a report that was later leaked to the Wall Street Journal titled "Al Rajhi Bank: Conduit for Extreme Finance."

Other Saudi banks and financial groups have been linked to the same tightly knit apparatus, all operating under the protection of the Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs. The other banks included Bank of Taqwa, which was identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a Specially Designated Terrorist Entity. A Treasury report reported, "Al Taqwa group has long acted as a financial advisor to Al Qaeda, with offices in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Italy and the Caribbean." Akida Bank Private LTD, another Saudi bank tied to Al Qaeda money laundering, listed Sulaiman Al Rajhi on its board of directors. The bank was run by Youssef Nada, a known financier of Saudi-backed terrorist cells.

The 9/11 Commission found that the Al Rajhi Bank was directly implicated in conduiting funds to the hijackers through the International Islamic Relief Organization, which maintained accounts at Al Rajhi. It was through those accounts that funds were wired to Abdulaziz Al Omari, one of the 9/11 hijackers, just four days before the attacks.

The HSBC links to Al Rajhi Bank dated back, according to the SPCI report, to HSBC's takeover of Republic National Bank of New York, which was sold to HongShang by the notorious Edmond Safra. Under Safra, Republic National Bank was exposed for laundering the profits of a major Turkish heroin smuggling ring operating out of the Shakarchi Trading Company in Switzerland. When HSBC took over Republic National Bank, the existing Al Rajhi accounts were taken over by HSBC New York.

The level of treachery involved in the U.S.-Saudi relationship—particularly following the 9/11 attacks is beyond belief. It is long overdue for those ties to be severed and for the full criminal apparatus behind 9/11 to be prosecuted with no holds barred.