telegraph | Senior members of the Saudi
royal family were major al-Qaeda donors and were intimately involved with
Osama bin Laden's terror network in the 1990s, one of the group's former
members has testified to a New York court.
Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "twentieth hijacker" who had taken
flying lessons but was arrested weeks before the September 11 attacks, made
the claims in a long-running lawsuit alleging Saudi Arabian involvement in
the plot to bring down the World Trade Centre.
Moussaoui, a 46-year-old French national who was diagnosed with delusional
paranoid schizophrenia but declared mentally fit to stand trial in 2006,
told lawyers that he had been ordered by bin Laden to compile a database of
influential supporters.
"Shaykh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money ... who is to be
listened to or who contribute to – to the jihad," he said in
broken English, according to the testimony that was first reported by the
New York Times and has been seen by The Telegraph.
Among those listed were Prince Turki al-Faisal, then the Saudi intelligence
chief; Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the longtime Saudi ambassador to the United
States and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, a prominent billionaire investor.
Moussaoui claimed he was sent on a visit to Saudi Arabia on a private plane
when he met both Prince Turki and Prince Bandar and hand-delivered a letter
from bin Laden. Prince Turki allegedly then gave Moussaoui two letters in
return.
