JEDDAH/TIRANA, 23 January — Albanian authorities said yesterday they have frozen the assets of Yasin Al-Qadi after prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for the Saudi businessman and ordered his property seized.
Millions of dollars in Al-Qadi’s accounts in 13 Albanian banks were frozen as part of the investigation, officials at the General Prosecutor’s Office said.
Al-Qadi, 45, is the co-owner of Karavan Construction, an Arab construction company financing a multimillion-dollar project to build two high-rises — nicknamed "the twin towers" — in the center of Tirana.
Al-Qadi headed the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation, which US investigators allege is a front for Al-Qaeda organization. He was among 39 individuals and organizations designated in October by the Bush administration as having their assets frozen for alleged terrorist ties.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat daily, a sister publication of Arab News, Al-Qadi said his lawyers have already started working to lift the freeze and to reach a settlement regarding his investment in Albania.
He said the reports about his investment in Albania contained erroneous information. "I have only two or three accounts in Albania with total deposits not exceeding $250,000," he added.
"I was not surprised by the action taken by Albanian authorities as it came on the basis of the unjust US decision," he added.
He disclosed that more than 25 Saudi businessmen and firms have invested in the twin tower project which, according to him, will cost less than $4 million.
Al-Qadi’s lawyer has insisted that he has no ties to Osama Bin Laden or Al-Qaeda.
The decision to sequester the two towers, along with Al-Qadi’s bank accounts, follows an investigation that was launched in December after the Finance Ministry said the Arab company was involved in money laundering.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Albania has strengthened legislation to fight terrorism, screened all foreigners in the country, toughened border controls and reviewed the financial assets of Arab residents suspected of having ties with al-Qaeda.
In an address to parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Ilir Meta noted that after a careful screening of all foreigners living and working in Albania, five Arab charity workers had been expelled and 223 other people who were found to lack residence permits also were ordered to leave.
The five who were expelled left Albania in October and were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan.
Meta also said that several banks had reported nine cases of money laundering, in which 16 people were believed to have been involved, and the prosecutor’s office was investigating them. If charged, tried and convicted, they could face up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The bank accounts of several Arab companies administered by the Arab-Albanian Islamic Bank and the International Trade Bank of Malaysia also have been frozen, Meta said. Al-Qadi’s accounts at the two banks were among those frozen.
Karavan Construction holds about 34 percent of the shares in the "twin towers" project, which involved high-rise offices and apartments. Several Albanian companies hold the rest of the shares; officials said those companies were not under investigation.
