A new law to combat terror financing is in the works, the Central Bank governor said Monday, a day after announcing the freezing of assets of a Sri Lankan businessman accused by Washington of brokering black-market deals for nuclear technology. Sultan bin Nasser al-Suweidi said a draft law is in the final stages of review by the legislative committee in the Cabinet and is expected to be passed soon. U.S. and Western investigators have warned Dubai's banking, trade and visa regulations could be easily abused for money laundering and illicit trade. About half the $250,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks was wired to al-Qaida terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks. Al-Qaida money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Al-Suweidi announced Sunday that authorities have frozen the accounts of SMB Computers, a company founded by Sri Lankan businessman Buhary Abu Syed Tahir. He said an investigation is under way involving the Central Bank, the Dubai Prosecutor General's office and other agencies. "The UAE Central Bank has frozen all accounts related to SMB Computers Co. as part of the investigation," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference held in the capital, Abu Dhabi, to regulate an informal system of money transfer known as hawala. SMB is a Dubai-based company established by Tahir and his brother, Syed Ibrahim Buhary, that President Bush alleged Tahir used as a front for clandestine movement of parts for nuclear centrifuges. The company is part of a small-business empire with interests in Pakistan, Iran and Libya, key countries linked to the clandestine nuclear weapons network. Al-Suweidi said results of the investigation will be revealed soon. Authorities also shut down the company's operations in Dubai, The Gulf News daily reported Monday.
Dubai's public prosecutor would not comment on the investigation. Tahir, who is married to a Malaysian, is believed to be living in Malaysia, where he has been questioned by police and kept under surveillance, but is not in custody.
| He seems to have fallen into a black hole. |
Al-Suweidi said earlier that authorities also have confiscated $3 million in terror-related funds and frozen 14 accounts of companies and individuals named on lists by the United Nations and the United States. On Monday, he told The Associated Press that among the frozen accounts were ones belonging to Al-Hisawi Co., owned by Saudi native Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, a suspected financier of the Sept. 11 hijackers; and al-Barakat Group, a Somali company allegedly linked to al-Qaida.
| A hopeful development or just window dressing? |
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