Posted on 11/24/2001 3:56:50 AM PST by kattracks
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Nov 24, 2001 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Turkey's government has frozen company shares belonging to a Saudi businessman suspected of helping fund Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, a Turkish newspaper reported Saturday.
The man's lawyer, however, insisted his client had no connection to bin Laden.
Tax inspectors ordered Yasin al-Qadi's controlling shares in two Istanbul-based companies to be frozen pending further investigation, after finding that the two firms owed $1.5 million in unpaid taxes, the daily newspaper Hurriyet reported.
Government officials could not be reached to confirm the report.
Al-Qadi's assets in the United States and Britain were frozen after he was named in a U.S. Treasury Department list of 39 people and groups suspected of providing financial assistance to bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Aydin Cosar, a lawyer for al-Qadi, said he had not received any official notification that Turkey had frozen his client's assets, and added that he would likely appeal any order. He denied any links with al-Qaida.
"There is absolutely no evidence that Yasin al-Qadi has any connection with Osama bin Laden," Cosar said.
One of the two companies controlled by al-Qadi was a construction and trading firm, and the other was a film company, Hurriyet said.
Al-Qadi formerly headed the Saudi-based Muwafaq ("Blessed Relief") Foundation, which U.S. officials said was a front for transferring millions of dollars from wealthy Saudi businessmen to bin Laden and al-Qaida.
Al-Qadi, a resident of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, has denied any connection to bin Laden and has launched an appeal against the British court order freezing his assets there.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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