KUWAIT CITY, Jan 11: A leading charity in Kuwait has rejected US accusations that it is financing Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terror network and called for forming a Kuwaiti-American committee to investigate its Pakistan branch, a newspaper reported Friday.

Revival of Islamic Heritage Society chairman Tareq Al-Issa, quoted in Al-Qabas, also said the charity had submitted the names of all its employees in Pakistan to the US ambassador in Kuwait through the emirate’s foreign ministry.

The United States announced on Wednesday that it had frozen the assets of two charities and two people, accusing them of financing terrorism.

“Today we are blocking the assets of two organizations and two individuals who have been stealing from widows and orphans to fund Al-Qaeda terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said.

He named the Afghan Support Committee, its finance chief Abu Bakr Al-Jaziri, branches of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society and its Pakistan director Abdul-Muhsin Al-Libi.

The society was affiliated with the Afghan Support Committee, according to the Treasury Department. It accused Libi of providing bin Laden and his associates with facilities in Peshawar, Pakistan.

But Issa denied that Libi manages the society’s Pakistan office, insisting Libi was not involved in the society. He also described the names on the US list as “suspicious” and not related to the society.

“We call for the formation of a Kuwaiti-American committee to investigate the society’s Pakistan branch,” said Issa, identifying a Kuwaiti-born Jordanian, Khalil Mohammad Al-Zeer, as having managed the society’s Pakistan branch for the past three years.—AFP