KUWAIT: Saudi Arabia is not the only country to have come under the spotlight of investigators tracking terrorist financing. Kuwait, another wealthy Gulf state, has been implicated in providing funds for al-Qaeda through charity organisations.
The banned charity The Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, which financed al-Qaeda through its Pakistan and Afghanistan offices, has not so far been linked to the Kuwaiti royal family, but investigations are ongoing, according to one diplomatic source.
Of more serious concern are recent links between Kuwaiti money and terrorist activity in Yemen, already a hotbed of terrorist activity and the possible refuge of Osama bin Laden, as reported by the Sunday Telegraph last week.
Kuwaiti authorities earlier announced the arrest of Mohsen al-Fadhli, a senior al-Qaeda commander, who confessed to raising funds for a planned bomb attack in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.
Arrests of other al-Qaeda members of the Gulf network have suggested Kuwaiti money was involved in the attack on the USS Cole in October 2001, which killed 17 American sailors.
One western diplomat said, "There's a lot of money in Kuwait and a lot of money going out . . . Large chunks of money are going to terrorists". Just how much money leaves Kuwait each year through unofficial and therefore untraceable means is estimated to be over €3 billion.