Posted on 12/06/2002 10:48:31 AM PST by Alouette
Dec. 6 FBI and Customs agents on Friday raided a Quincy, Mass., software company that has done business with dozens of government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, attempting to determine whether the company is partly owned by a Saudi businessman who U.S. officials believe is a financier for the al-Qaida terrorism network, NBC News has learned.
The companys client list includes the FBI, NATO, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force, the Naval Air Serices Command, the Department of Energy, the IRS, the Postal Service and the House of Representatives.
SOURCES FAMILIAR with the raid, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that investigators also are attempting to determine whether the company, Ptech Inc., used its software to gain access to sensitive government data.
The company, which describes itself on its Web site as the leading authority in enterprise architecture, has a client list that includes the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force, the Naval Air Services Command, the Department of Energy, the IRS, the Postal Service and the House of Representatives. It also did work for NATO.
Among the high-profile companies Ptech has done work for are Southern California Edison, Allegheny Energy Supply, Applied Materials, IBM Global Services, Motorola and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Marvelous! (Said in best Dirty Harry voice.)
You and me both.
Al-Qaida link eyed in Mass. raidSoftware firm has worked for dozens of U.S. agencies, big corporations... Ptech Inc.'s offices in Quincy, Mass., which were raided by FBI and U.S. Customs agents early Friday.
Dec. 6 FBI and Customs agents on Friday raided a Quincy, Mass., software company that has done business with dozens of government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, attempting to determine whether the company is partly owned by a Saudi businessman who U.S. officials believe is a financier for the al-Qaida terrorism network, NBC News has learned.
SOURCES FAMILIAR with the raid, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that investigators also are attempting to determine whether the company, Ptech Inc., used its software to gain access to sensitive government data.
The company, which describes itself on its Web site as the leading authority in enterprise architecture, has a client list that includes the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force, the Naval Air Services Command, the Department of Energy, the IRS, the Postal Service and the House of Representatives. It also did work for NATO.
Among the high-profile companies Ptech has done work for are Southern California Edison, Allegheny Energy Supply, Applied Materials, IBM Global Services, Motorola and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
SUSPECTED LINKS TO SAUDI BUSINESSMAN
The sources told NBC News that authorities have reason to believe that the company, which was founded in 1994, is partly owned by Saudi businessman Kasin al-Kadi, who has been designated as a terrorist financier by U.S. Treasury officials.
The sources said the federal agents detained some company employees for questioning in the raid, which occurred in the early morning hours in a driving snowstorm.
Few other details on the raid were immediately available, but the sources said that investigators were attempting to determine whether the Ptech software might have included back doors that would have allowed company employees to remotely access and download data from government and company computers.
However, a law enforcement official quoted by The Associated Press said there was no evidence of any compromise of government computers or any coding embedded in the software sold to the government that would be of benefit to terrorists.
The official, who spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity, also said the investigation was focused on links between Ptech officials and certain charitable groups. He did not elaborate.
COMPANY A HIGH FLIER
The privately held Ptech, which had about 40 employees as of late last year, has been a high flier in recent years. It has twice been named as one of the 100 Companies that Matter by KM World, ranking alongside Intel, IBM and Microsoft.
Ptechs software provides organizations with a visual blueprint of how internal processes work, and is used to help executives turn strategy into practice.
No one answered the door or answered the phone Friday at the home of the companys chairman and chief executive officer, Oussama Ziade. A woman who answered the phone at the home of vice president and chief scientist Hussein Ibrahim and declined to give her name said he was not available.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THERE
However, James Cerrato, the companys chief product officer, said as he walked into the office Friday morning: Theres absolutely nothing there in terms of a link to al-Qaida.
I think as soon as the investigation concludes, that will put a light on things, he added.
Little is known about al-Kadi, who U.S. officials describe as a multimillionaire with personal connections to the Saudi royal family. The Treasury Department has concluded that he has funneled millions of dollars to bin Ladens al-Qaida network.
The Saudi government announced this week that it has frozen al-Kadis assets there, one of just three individuals it has taken such action against. In other cases, the Saudis have said that the United States has failed to provide evidence to back up assertions that individuals are financially supporting terrorists.
But the businessman continues to live comfortably in Saudi Arabia, apparently relying on funds he still has access to in countries that have not frozen his bank accounts.
In an interview last year with ABC News, al-Kadi denied he had provided financial support to bin Laden or al-Qaida. To hear such an accusation had been put on myself, this is a complete mistake, a big one, he told the network.
SAUDIS DEFEND ANTI-TERROR EFFORTS
The Saudi government this week launched a public relations campaign aimed at deflecting criticism of what some U.S. officials see as a reluctance to crack down on citizens of the oil-rich kingdom who are providing financial support for al-Qaida.
Adel al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to the royal family, said at an unusual news conference at the Saudi Embassy in Washington that Riyadh has aggressively targeted the al-Qaida network and imposed financial controls to ensure that money from the kingdoms citizens doesnt flow to terrorists.
He also said that Saudi Arabia has been unfairly maligned and subjected to a campaign that borders on hate.
Criticism of Saudi Arabia as a possible source of terror money escalated after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington in which 15 of the 19 alleged terrorists were Saudis.
Since the attacks, questions have arisen over the estimated $3 billion a year Saudis give to charitable causes, including at least $300 million a year flows out out of the country and cant easily be traced.
The questions have become more pointed in recent weeks since it was revealed that some money given by Saudi Princess Haifa al Faisal to the family of a Saudi man living in Southern California may have been used to aid two of the hijackers who participated in the Sept. 11 attacks. The princess is the wife of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
The princess said the money was a charitable contribution and she had no knowledge that some of it may have been diverted to third parties.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.