PARIS, March 20: In a Wednesday morning raid, French military police undertook a surprise search of the Cannes residence of Yeslam Bin Laden, the half-brother of Osama bin Laden, whom French judicial authorities suspect of having closer ties to, than Yeslam has so far wanted to admit.
The search was undertaken by the crack Brigade de Recherche of the Gendarmerie Nationale based at Nice, and upon the orders of Judge Renaud Von Ruymbecke who reportedly believes that Yeslam and the family holding company SICO play a more important role in the financing of international terrorism than Yeslam Bin Laden has so far accepted to admit.
Judge Von Ruymbecke, who was placed in charge of the investigation only a few weeks ago, has also formally requested the assistance of judicial authorities in Geneva, where Yeslam has his principal residence, and where the company he heads, SICO (Saudi Investment Company), has its headquarters.
Sources close to the magistrate say that governmental authorities in Geneva have promised their cooperation in the inquest and that a judge is soon to be named who will be placed in charge of the Yeslam bin Laden affair on a full-time basis.
According to the sources, “this is only the start of a vast investigation, but it’s also the first time that the French judicial system decides to attack the (somewhat thorny) question of the financing of international terrorism.”
Only last week, French judicial authorities admitted they had been investigating accusations of money laundering by financial interests linked to the family of Osama. These, at the time, concerned several companies associated with SICO, which, say investigators, manages a large part of the holdings of Binladin Group (SBG).
The decision to undertake the investigation comes in the wake of the determination by the French finance ministry that several subsidiaries controlled by SICO in France appeared to be laundering money, this according to information provided by Tracfin, a Finance ministry department that specializes in the tracking of illegal transactions.
Yeslam had denied last fall any involvement in money-laundering or support of terrorism, indeed affirmed that there existed no links at all between his financial interests and the activities of Osama.