November 26, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 20, 1423

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RIYADH, Nov 25: The Saudi authorities have denied recent allegations that the Saudi government had sent money to two of the hijackers involved in the Sept 11 attacks.

The Saudis are also questioning the timing of the allegation.

According to Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, the Saudi officials had worked closely with the FBI in investigating the funding allegation when it first emerged some “seven or eight months ago”.

Al-Jubeir said his country was pursuing Al Qaeda mercilessly, adding that investigations were continuing to determine whether Saudi money reached the hijackers, and if so how.

Asked if the Saudi government had sent money to the hijackers, Al-Jubeir emphatically replied: “There is no evidence to that effect whatsoever.”

Al-Jubeir said that the Saudis had thought the money trail issue was (investigated) and closed, “so we find it surprising that now out of the US Congress they repackage this and push it as new evidence, which leads me to believe that people who are behind this are more interested in scoring political brownie points than they are arriving at the truth,” he emphasized.

Al-Jubeir clarified that Saudi Arabia was working closely with the United States in the broader hunt for members of the Al Qaeda group.

“I don’t believe that there are any two governments that are cooperating more closely,” than the US and the Saudi government on this matter, Al-Jubeir added.

The Newsweek magazine earlier reported that the payment of about $3,500 a month reached a Saudi student who knew the hijackers. The student reportedly received money from an account operating in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, daughter of the late King Faisal and wife of the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.

Newsweek said the FBI had found a steady stream of payments to the family of one of the students, Omar Al-Bayoumi beginning early in the year 2000.

It said that Bayoumi had befriended the hijackers in San Diego, several months earlier.