Yassin al-Qadi, Ptech's owner, allegedly provided support to Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo at times when the U.S. was supporting militant groups in the same areas.
Former Ptech employees Muhammed Mubayyid and Suheil Laher worked at Care International, a Boston-based charity considered to be the successor organization of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, New York. Al-Kifah, also known as Maktab al-Kidhamat (MAK), served as a recruiting post for the CIA during the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad of the 1980s. Al-Kifah and Care also allegedly supported Islamic militants involved in the Bosnian civil war in an effort backed by the United States.
Former Ptech manager and convicted felon Aldurahman Alamoudi, who helped gather political support for the U.S.-backed war in Bosnia, met on several occasions with senior White House officials.
In 2004, Alamoudi was sentenced to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to tax violations and illegal dealings with Libya. The Treasury Department claims he maintained a close relationship with al-Qaeda and raised money for al-Qaeda in the United States.
Prior to his conviction, not only was Alamoudi working at Ptech, he was meeting with President Bush and lobbying alongside Republican power broker Grover Norquist. In 2000, prior to the presidential election, Alamoudi was invited to meet with George W. Bush in Texas; and three days after the 9/11 attacks, Alamoudi was invited to a prayer service with the president.
Alamoudi also met with senior officials of the Clinton Administration. Alamoudi headed the American Task Force for Bosnia, which lobbied the Clinton Administration to provide military support to Muslims fighters in Bosnia.
The Muwafaq Foundation, a now defunct charity founded by Khalid bin Mahfouz and Yassin al-Qadi, has similarly been accused of supporting Muslim fighters in Bosnia. Muwafaq is at the center of the ongoing legal battle between victims of the 9/11 attacks and Saudis suspected of bankrolling al-Qaeda.
According to the 2003 congressional testimony of former counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke, the Muwafaq Foundation reportedly assisted al-Qaeda militants in Bosnia and transferred at least $3 million to Osama bin Laden on behalf of Khalid bin Mahfouz. The Treasury Department has described Muwafaq as an “al-Qaeda front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen."
A reported audit of the National Commercial Bank in 1998 allegedly uncovered $3 million funneled by the Muwafaq Foundation to Osama bin Laden. Mahfouz and al-Qadi insist the audit never took place and deny having any connections to terrorism.
Lawyers representing 9/11 victims in Manhattan have filed a discovery motion against NCB that singles out Muwafaq, as well as its founders Mahfouz and al-Qadi. The plaintiffs allege the two Saudis, while working for NCB in the early 1990s, established the Muwafaq Foundation and used it to launder money to terrorists.
The lawyers presented new evidence to support the discovery motion. This includes a German intelligence report alleging NCB laundered money to al-Qaeda and a French diplomatic cable summarizing the alleged involvement of Mahfouz in transfers from NCB to a charity that forwarded the funds to Osama bin Laden. The plaintiffs' lawyers also point to U.S. and Swiss documents linking al-Qadi to al-Qaeda and other terrorist activities.
The 9/11 court case and the defendants’ ties in the U.S. have gone largely unreported in the mainstream press. The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of the only media outlets to devote coverage to the ongoing legal battle.
